Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Question 279: To ask the Minister for Education and Science if a person (details supplied) in County Mayo will be deemed eligible for approval for a course; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [23097/07]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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I understand the Deputy is asking about eligibility for a grant under the maintenance grant schemes rather than eligibility to attend a course.

My Departments Maintenance Grants Schemes, which are assessed by the relevant Local Authority or the local VEC's, define a mature student to mean a person of not less than 23 years of age, on the 1st day of January in the year of entry to an approved course in an approved institution.

Mature students may be categorised as either independent mature students or mature students dependent on parents. An independent mature student is defined to mean a mature student who was not ordinarily resident at home with his/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 Acts specify 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.

The condition relating to residency requires, in the case of a candidate under 23, the candidate's parents or guardians to have been resident in the administrative area of a Local Authority from 1st October of the previous year. In the case of an 'Independent Mature Candidate' the candidate himself/herself must have been resident in the administrative area of a Local Authority from 1st October of the previous year. The Scheme specifies that the Local Authorities have discretion to waive this requirement in exceptional circumstances.

From the information provided by the Deputy it would appear that the student referred to is currently 22 years of age- DOB 16/09/1985 — and, therefore, does not qualify to be assessed as a mature student and must be assessed with reference to parental income and address.