Michael D Higgins (Galway West, Labour)
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Question 143: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the criteria used to decide whether a student qualifies for a top-up grant; if there is discretion on grounds of hardship in the awarding of such a grant; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [5074/07]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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To qualify for the special rate of maintenance grant (sometimes referred to as the 'top-up' grant) in the academic year 2006/07, all candidates must satisfy the following conditions:

1. Qualify for the ordinary maintenance grant in respect of the academic year 2006/07;

2. Total reckonable income limit in the tax year to 31 December 2005 must not exceed €16,748 (net of standard exclusions, as set out in the 2006 Maintenance Grants Schemes and net of Child Dependant increase (CDI) payments, where applicable);

3. As at 31 December 2005, the reckonable income of parent(s)/guardian(s), the candidate himself/herself, or the income of the spouse/ partner, as the case may be, must include one of the eligible social welfare payments prescribed under the Scheme.

LIST OF ELIGIBLE PAYMENTS

1. SOCIAL ASSISTANCE PAYMENTS

Blind Person's Pension

Carer's Allowance

Deserted Wife's Allowance

Disability Allowance

Farm Assist

Lone Parent's allowance

Unemployment Assistance (where held for 391 days or more)

Old Age (Non-Contributory) Pension

One parent family payment

Orphans (Non-Contributory) pension

Pre-retirement allowance

Prisoner's Wife's Allowance

Widow's/Widower's (Non-Contributory) Pension

2. SOCIAL INSURANCE PAYMENTS

Carer's Benefit

Deserted Wife's Benefit

Invalidity pension

Unemployability Supplement

Occupational Injuries Death Benefit (Orphan's pension)

Occupational Injuries Death Benefit (pension for a widow or widower)

Old Age Contributory Pension

Orphan's (Contributory) Allowance

Unemployment Benefit (continuous for at least 12 months)

Widow's/Widower's (Contributory) Pension Retirement Pension

3. FAMILY INCOME SUPPLEMENT (FIS)

4. DESIGNATED PROGRAMMES

Back to Education Allowance Back to Work Allowance (Employees)

Back to Work Enterprise Allowance

Community Employment Scheme FÁS Training Programmes, including Apprenticeships

Job Start

Part time job incentive scheme Vocational Training Opportunities Scheme (VTOS)

5. OTHERS

(a) In receipt of payments under the Fáilte Ireland Skills Programme equivalent to a social welfare payment;

(b) In receipt of payments under the FIT (Fastrack to IT) initiative equivalent to a social welfare payment;

(c) Participants on a training course approved by a Government Department, State Agency or Area Partnership and who were in receipt of an eligible payment prior to progressing to the programme;

(d) Grant aided employees in social economy enterprises;

(e) In receipt of payments under the Senior Traveller Training Centre programmes.

The terms of the schemes are of general application and therefore it is not appropriate or possible to make an exception in individual cases. However, in addition to the Special Rate of Maintenance Grant the Student Assistance Fund is available to students experiencing particular or unexpected hardship during their course of study. The fund is allocated on a per capita basis to publicly-funded higher education institutions. In 2006–7, 35 institutions received funding totalling over €6m.

The Millennium Partnership Fund, which was established in 2000, also provides community-based funding. It supports retention and participation among under-represented groups of students in further or higher education and is available to students in area partnerships and community groups which participate in the Local Development Social Inclusion Programme (LDSIP). Application for Millennium funding is made annually by organisations through Pobal Ltd., the state company established to promote social inclusion, reconciliation and equality in Ireland and which has administered the fund since it was established. In 2006, over €2m was to the funding support community groups and partnerships. In 2004–5, the latest year for which figures are available, approximately 3,750 students in higher and further education benefited from the fund.