Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Question 422: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the reason a person whose income is below the guidelines of €16,000 would be refused the special rate of maintenance top-up grant; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [29460/07]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The Special Rate of Maintenance Grant is available to students in receipt of the ordinary maintenance grant under each of my Department's four maintenance grant schemes. In order to qualify for the special rate of maintenance grant a candidate must meet a number of conditions, including the following:—

1.An applicant must qualify for the ordinary maintenance grant;

2.Total reckonable income in the relevant tax year must not exceed the lower income limits as set out in the relevant Maintenance Grant Schemes and, where applicable, net of Child Dependent Increase payments;

3.As at the prescribed date — i.e. 31 December each year — the source of income must include one of the eligible long-term Social Welfare payments.

The prescribed income limit for the special rate of maintenance grant for the academic year 2007/2008 is €18,055. It is not proposed to depart from the existing arrangements for the determination of the eligibility threshold.

The decision on eligibility for third level grants is a matter for the relevant assessing authority — i.e. the local authority or VEC. These bodies do not refer individual applications to my Department except, in exceptional cases, where, for example, advice or instruction regarding a particular clause in the relevant scheme is required. If an individual applicant considers that she/he has been unjustly refused a maintenance grant, or that the rate of grant awarded is not the correct one, she/he may appeal, in the first instance, to the relevant local authority or VEC. Where an individual applicant has had an appeal turned down, in writing, by the relevant local authority or VEC, and remains of the view that the body has not interpreted the schemes correctly in his/her case, an appeal form outlining the position may be submitted by the applicant to my Department. Alternatively, as already indicated, the local authority or VEC may, itself, in exceptional circumstances, seek clarification on issues from my Department.