Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 252: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the reason the higher education grant has not been awarded in the case of a person (details supplied) in County Kildare; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [36258/05]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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Under the terms of the higher education grants scheme, grant assistance is awarded to students who meet the prescribed conditions of funding, including those which relate to nationality, residency, means and previous academic attainment. The nationality requirement, which is set out in clause 4.5 of the 2005 higher education grant scheme guidelines, provides that candidates must hold EU nationality; have official refugee status; have been granted humanitarian leave to remain in the State; have permission to remain in the State by virtue of marriage to an Irish national residing in the State or be the child of such person, not having EU nationality; have permission to remain in the State by virtue of marriage to a national of another EU member state who is residing in the State and who is or has been employed or self-employed in the State, or be the child of such a person, not having EU nationality; or be nationals of a member country of the European Economic Area or Switzerland. Officials from the Department of Education and Science have received an appeal from the candidate who was turned down by Kildare County Council, which is the awarding body in this case. As the candidate referred to by the Deputy is a non-EU national who has been granted permission to remain in the State on the basis of parentage of an Irish-born child, I regret that she does not comply with the above conditions and is ineligible for grant assistance under the nationality requirements of the scheme. There are no plans to extend the nationality clause of the student support schemes. Any extension to the scope of the maintenance grants scheme can be considered only in the light of available resources and in the context of competing demands within the education sector.