Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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Question 163: To ask the Minister for Education and Science if negotiations have commenced with the Department of Social and Family Affairs and the Department of Finance in order to improve the operation and administration including a revision in the terms of eligibility and eliminate the poverty traps described in the report Allow the Special Rate of Maintenance Grant to all Independent Adult Learners from Low Paid Backgrounds (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22326/08]

Batt O'Keeffe (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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My Department is aware of the document referred to by the Deputy.

The report of the Action Group on Access to Third Level Education made detailed recommendations concerning the introduction of special rates of maintenance grants for disadvantaged students.

The target group of "those most in need" was defined in terms of the dependants of people receiving long-term welfare payments, where the necessary conditions are fulfilled.

Students who qualify for the standard rate of maintenance grant under each of my Department's four maintenance grant schemes may, under certain circumstances, qualify for the special rate of maintenance grant. In order to qualify for the special rate, 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., 31st 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.

The special rates of grant are also available to mature students who meet the prescribed conditions.

The Deputy will be aware that I have recently published the Student Support Bill 2008. This Bill will provide a statutory framework for reforming the administration of student grants and a coherent basis for a new single unified scheme of student maintenance grants. My Department, in consultation with the key stakeholders, will consider all criteria regarding eligibility for maintenance grants, including the special rates of maintenance grant, in the course of the development of regulations governing a single unified grants scheme, as provided for in the Student Support Bill.