Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 580: To ask the Minister for Education and Science when a higher education grant will be approved in the name of a person (details supplied) in County Kildare who has stamp four status and applied for citizenship; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17489/09]

Batt O'Keeffe (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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The decision on eligibility for a higher education grant is a matter for the relevant local authority as appropriate. These bodies do not refer individual applications to my Department, except in exceptional circumstances. If an individual applicant considers that she/he has been unjustly refused a maintenance grant, or that the rate of maintenance grant awarded is not the correct one, she/he may appeal, in the first instance, to the relevant local authority. Where an individual applicant has had an appeal turned down, in writing, by the relevant local authority 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.