Ned O'Keeffe (Cork East, Fianna Fail)
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Question 267: To ask the Minister for Education and Science if her attention has been drawn to the serious delays in having higher education grant payments issued to students whose parents are dependent on social welfare payments and in cases in which extreme hardship is being experienced by these families; if her attention has further been drawn to the fact that in some cases the academic year has been completed by the student before the grant is awarded; if her attention has further been drawn to the case of persons (details supplied) in County Cork; and if she will investigate the administration of this grant scheme by the authorities to ensure that the families most in need of their grants receive approval and payment as a priority. [9758/05]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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My Department funds four maintenance grant schemes for third level and further education students. These are the higher education grants scheme, the vocational education committees' scholarships scheme, the third level maintenance grants scheme for trainees and the maintenance grants scheme for students attending post-leaving certificate courses.

The higher education grants scheme is administered by the local authorities. The other three schemes are administered by the vocational education committees. My Department carried out a survey of the 66 local authorities and VECs, early in 2005, in respect of the status of applications for student grants for the current academic year as at mid-January. The survey indicated that decisions had been taken on at least 82% of applications at that time. Close to 15% of the remaining 18% of applications received were awaiting additional documentation or the application form was incomplete. The remaining 3% were either part processed by the awarding authority, or processing had yet to commence. These include late applications accepted by the awarding authorities and applications received in respect of courses which commence in the first quarter of the 2005 calendar year.

My Department in recognition of the importance of the timely provision of payment to eligible students is engaged in ongoing consultations with the Irish Vocational Education Association and the County and City Managers' Association with a view to improving the existing arrangements and ensuring the earlier processing of applications and the making of payments to eligible students.

The Department is also in discussions with the existing stakeholders as regards the future administration of the schemes. My intention is that whatever future administration of the schemes is put in place will be one which delivers a quality and timely service to students that ensures consistency of application and client accessibility.

The decision on eligibility for third level grants and the issue of grant awards is a matter for the relevant local authority or VEC. These bodies do not refer individual applications to my Department except, in exceptional cases, where, for example, advice or instruction regarding a particular clause in the relevant scheme is desired. It appears that no such advice or instruction has, to date, been sought in the case of the student referred to by the Deputy.