John McGuinness (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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Question 573: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the reason a person (details supplied) in County Kilkenny was refused a grant to complete a course at Carlow Institute of Technology; if this person will be considered as a mature student; if this scheme will be modernised as some of the definitions are dated; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [5217/06]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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Under the terms of my Department's 2005 third level student maintenance grant schemes, the position is that, generally speaking, students entering approved courses for the first time are eligible for grants where they satisfy the prescribed conditions with regard to age, residence, means, nationality and previous academic attainment. A mature student is defined for the purposes of the schemes as a candidate who is at least 23 years of age on the 1 January of the year of entry or re-entry to an approved course.

Mature students are categorised as either independent mature students or mature students dependent on parents. An independent mature student is defined as meaning a mature student who was not ordinarily resident at home with his or her parents from the October preceding their entry to an approved course. Independent mature students are assessed without reference to either their parents' income or address.

When assessing the means of students other than independent mature students, the means test provision of the scheme specifies that the students' means and those of their parents or guardians must be below a prescribed limit. This provision requires that parental income be taken into account irrespective of the individual circumstances in any case where the student is not an independent mature student.

From information provided by the Deputy for my Department, it appears that the candidate is under 23. The Deputy will appreciate that the terms of the schemes are of general application and it is not open to me to make exceptions in individual cases. It is not proposed to change the current terms and conditions of the definition of mature students.