Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 465: To ask the Minister for Education and Science if she has plans to speed up the payment of higher education of VEC grants; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [13430/05]

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 while the other three are administered by the vocational education committees.

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 to ensure the earlier processing of applications and the making of payments to eligible students. In this regard, a working group with representatives from both associations has been established. The broad terms of reference of this group are to examine ongoing operational issues within the current system of administration of the schemes. Issues concerning the timely payments of grants to eligible students are a priority for this group.