Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein)
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Question 210: To ask the Minister for Education and Science if she will review the case of a person (details supplied) in County Galway who has been refused a maintenance grant as they lived outside Ireland for three years; her views on the fact that the cross-border LLM is not regarded as an approved course here and that as part of the course was outside this jurisdiction in Belfast, Galway County Council refused to pay the fees; if she will review the fact that this person was regarded as an EU applicant as opposed to an Irish one; and her views on whether students should be encouraged to pursue cross-border courses instead of being deterred in this way in view of political developments, particularly the Good Friday Agreement. [24041/06]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The three Third Level Student Support Schemes, administered by the Local Authorities and the Vocational Education Committees on behalf of my Department, offer financial assistance to eligible students attending approved third level courses. Students entering approved courses for the first time are, generally speaking, eligible for grants where they satisfy the relevant conditions as to age, residence, means and nationality.

Under the Free Fees Initiative, my Department meets the tuition fees of eligible students who are attending full-time undergraduate courses in the State, which must be of at least two years duration, at an approved college. Where a candidate is pursuing an approved course at Postgraduate level in an institution listed as an approved institution for the purpose of my Department's Higher Education Grant Scheme and VEC Scholarship Scheme the Awarding Body may award a full or part grant in respect of the candidate's lecture fee subject to the terms of the Scheme.

My Department has examined the details of the course to which the person the Deputy refers is attending on the basis as to whether or not an application could be made for assistance under the 2005 Higher Education Grant Scheme. My Department is aware that the first semester of the LLM Human Rights Cross Border course is completed in Queen's University, the second in NUI Galway and the third can be spent in either Queen's University or NUIG. The person the deputy refers to has chosen to remain in NUIG for the third semester. However, my Department understands that all fees are paid to Queen's University who in turn make a payment to NUIG in respect of the period of study there.

The residency requirement, under the prescribed provisions of the 2005 Higher Education Grant Scheme, requires in the case of an independent mature candidate the candidate to have been ordinarily resident in the administrative area of the Local Authority from the 1st October 2004. The person to whom the Deputy refers has confirmed to my Department and to Galway County Council that she resided in Scotland for the past number of years. Candidates who are E.U. nationals and who do not satisfy the residency requirement are eligible to apply for a means tested fees only grant in respect of an approved course.

The particular clause which applies in this case is Clause 4.1.2 of the 2005 Higher Education Grant Scheme which states as follows:—

"Candidates who are E.U. nationals and who do not satisfy the residency requirement are eligible to apply for a means-tested fees only grant in respect of approved courses in the Republic of Ireland, provided they have been ordinarily resident, for a purpose other than wholly or mainly to receive full-time education, in an E.U. Member State from 1 October, 2004. Such candidates shall apply to the Local Authority in which the college they propose to attend is situated."

There are two points in this clause that impacts on this candidate's eligibility under the prescribed provisions of my Department's 2005 Higher Education Grant Scheme. The first is "in respect of approved courses in the Republic of Ireland". As the course is run by Queen's University, Belfast it does not meet the criteria of an approved course in the Republic of Ireland. Secondly, the last line of the clause "candidates shall apply to the Local Authority in which the college they propose to attend is situated". As Queen's University is located in Belfast it is not located in a Local Authority administrative area and, consequently, a grant application cannot be submitted to a local authority in the area in which the university is situated.

My Department understands that students attending the LLM Human Rights Cross Border course must pay their full fees to Queen's University, a facility does not exist for a student to divide and pay the institutions separately. All applications for the course must be submitted to Queen's University and not through NUIG.

An application for a means tested fees only grant in respect of the part of the course pursued in NUIG cannot be considered independently for assistance.