Dáil Éireann debate -
Thursday, 14 May 1992

Vol. 419 No. 7

Written Answers. - Third Level Grants.

John Connor

Question:

34 Mr. Connor asked the Minister for Education if he will review the case of a person (details supplied) in County Roscommon who is a spina bifida victim and who is entitled to receive the disabled person's maintenance allowance because of his disability but who has found that he is not entitled to a third level education grant because his DPMA is regarded as means under the regulations governing the administration of the higher education grant scheme of his Department; if he considers this to be inequitable; and if he intends to remove it.

Minister for Education (Mr. S. Brennan)

Roscommon County Council is the relevant local authority and the body statutorily entrusted with the administration of the Higher Education Grants Scheme in this case.

The local authority contacted my Department seeking clarification on whether the disabled person's maintenance allowance was to be regarded as "reckonable income" for the purposes of the higher education grants scheme.

As this particular allowance is not an excluded category in the definition of "reckonable income" in the scheme, it has to be taken into account when assessing the candidate's eligibility for a grant, and the local authority has been informed accordingly.

I have already announced that I am having this whole area of the criteria for grants eligibility for third level student grants urgently reviewed in my Department.