Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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My Department funds four maintenance grant schemes for third level and further education students. These are the Higher Education Grants Scheme, the Vocational Education Committees' Scholarships Scheme, the Third Level Maintenance Grants Scheme for Trainees and the Maintenance Grants Scheme for Students attending Post Leaving Certificate Courses. The Higher Education Grants Scheme is administered by the Local Authorities. The other three schemes are administered by the Vocational Education Committees.

The process of assessing eligibility for third level or further education grants is a matter for the relevant local authority or VEC. Among the factors which give rise to delays in processing applications is where the administering body is awaiting further information/documentation from applicants, or applicants have failed to submit complete application forms.

The Deputy will already be aware that I plan to introduce a single unified scheme of maintenance grants for students and to consolidate the administration of this unified grants scheme in the VEC sector. This will, I believe, provide for a more coherent administrative system. The scheme will be underpinned by a new Student Support Bill which facilitates greater consistency of application, improved client accessibility and timely delivery of grants to those who need them most. This is part of my overall strategy to introduce service improvements in the administration of the student grant schemes. These will include guaranteed timeframes for the earlier payment of grants.

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.

The residency clause of the scheme requires, in the case of a candidate under 23, that 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 Local Authority has discretion to waive this requirement in exceptional circumstances. I would, however, point out that the type of situation where residency is waived is, for example, where an independent mature candidate him/herself has missed the residency requirement by a relatively short period of time.

In cases where a candidate returns to the State following a period abroad and where the awarding body decides, at its discretion, to waive the residency requirement the candidate may be assessed for the grant without meeting the prescribed residency requirement from 1st October of the previous year.

One of the main considerations in this type of case is the period of time a candidate has resided outside of the State. The Department suggests that in such cases, the residency requirement may be waived at the discretion of the awarding body only where the period of time abroad does not exceed one year.

On this basis, and on condition that the students submits satisfactory evidence of independent residence prior to going abroad and for the period after their return, the Department has no objection to a candidate being assessed as an independent mature candidate for the purpose of the grant application.

In cases where a candidate has been out of the country for a period of time of more than one year before commencing his/her course, irrespective of whether or not he/she can produce evidence of independent living prior to going abroad, she/he would not be eligible to be considered under the residency clause of the scheme.