Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)
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Question 396: To ask the Minister for Education and Science if a person (details supplied) in County Louth will be entitled to financial assistance to study at The Sound Training College, Temple Bar Music Centre, Temple Bar, Dublin. [27335/05]

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 under the aegis of my Department. The other three schemes are administered by the vocational education committees. The Temple Bar music centre is a private college and, as such is not an approved institution for the purposes of the student support schemes.

There are no plans to extend the scope of the student support schemes to private colleges. Any extension to the scope of the maintenance grants scheme, to include students attending private college such as the sound training college, can be considered only in the light of available resources and in the context of competing demands within the education sector.