Joe Higgins (Dublin West, Socialist Party)
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Question 485: To ask the Minister for Education and Science if she will change the regulations governing higher education grants in order that students granted permission to remain in the State on the basis of having an Irish born sibling may be eligible for grant assistance. [41334/06]

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 as set out in Clause 4.5 of the Higher Education Grant Scheme 2006 states,

Candidates must: hold E.U. Nationality; or have Official Refugee Status; or have been granted Humanitarian Leave to Remain in the State; or 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; or 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 (EEA) or Switzerland.

A non-EU national who has been granted permission to remain in the State on the basis of an Irish born sibling does not comply with the above conditions and is ineligible for grant assistance under the nationality requirements of the Scheme.

Any extension to the scope of the maintenance grants schemes can be considered only in the light of available resources and in the context of competing demands within the education sector.