Michael Lowry (Tipperary North, Independent)
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Question 628: To ask the Minister for Education and Science when a person (details supplied) in County Tipperary will be sanctioned for a higher education grant payment. [32996/05]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The decision on eligibility for third level grants 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.

A written response was issued by my Department to a query raised by North Tipperary VEC, the relevant awarding body in this case, in with regard to the grant applicant referred to by the Deputy. The applicant's eligibility for grant assistance will be assessed with reference to the terms and conditions of funding, prescribed under the relevant maintenance grant scheme, and the clarification received from my Department to the query raised. If an individual applicant considers that he or she has been unjustly refused a maintenance grant or that the rate of grant awarded is not the correct one, he or she may appeal to the relevant local authority or VEC. Where an individual applicant has had an appeal turned down in writing by the relevant local authority or VEC and remains of the view that the body has not interpreted the schemes correctly in his or her case, a letter outlining the position may be sent to my Department. Alternatively, as already indicated, the local authority or VEC may itself, in exceptional circumstances, seek clarification on issues from my Department. However, it is not open to me or my Department to depart from the terms of the maintenance grants schemes in individual cases.