Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent)
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Question 54: To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if, in view of the elimination of maintenance payments to postgraduate students from the 2012-13 academic year and considering the recent announcement in the Finance Bill 2012 of a range of fiscal incentives targeted to fostering research and development growth in Ireland, he proposes any measures within his remit to encourage greater participation in postgraduate study; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10048/12]

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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The current economic climate requires difficult decisions to be made across all areas of public expenditure. However, given its centrality to future economic growth, the Government has sought to protect, in as far as possible, investment in research and development. This year my Department is providing some €38 million to support research activities across a range of programmes, including schemes managed by the Irish Research Council for Humanities and Social Sciences (IRCHSS) and the Irish Research Council for Science, Engineering and Technology (IRCSET). These schemes specifically focus on providing funding support to postgraduate students and early-career post doctoral fellows. It is anticipated that the Councils will make over 300 new postgraduate awards this year, which is an increase on the previous year. These awards include funding for tuition fees and an annual stipend of €16,000. Funding is also available from other research funding agencies, including Science Foundation Ireland. Additionally, places are being made available free-of-charge on postgraduate courses across the country to unemployed people under my Department's Springboard initiative.

It is also worth noting that the number of postgraduate students has increased from 18,807 in 2007/08 to 21,880 in the 2010/11 academic year. In the context of measures announced in Budget 2012, new students entering postgraduate courses from the 2012/13 academic year onwards will not be entitled to any maintenance payment under the Student Grant Scheme. However, students who meet the qualifying conditions for the special rate of grant will be eligible to have their post-graduate tuition fees paid up to the maximum fee limit under the Student Grant Scheme. The requirement to pay a fee is considered to be a greater obstacle to entry than lack of maintenance support at postgraduate level and this is why I opted to maintain the fee-payment ahead of maintenance payments for postgraduate students. Additionally, a limited number of students who would previously have qualified under the standard grant thresholds will qualify to have a €2,000 contribution made towards the costs of their fees. The income threshold for this level of grant is currently being determined in the context of the formulation of the student grant scheme for the 2012/13 academic year. Tax relief is also available on postgraduate tuition fees. I believe this approach will continue to provide resources for a relatively wide number of post-graduate students.