Vol. 497 No. 6
30 Mr. O'Shea asked the Minister for Education and Science the proposals, if any, he has to make allowance for siblings with physical, sensory or intellectual disability living at home similar to that made for siblings attending a post leaving certificate, CERT or other approved third level course in Garda training or as a student nurse when assessing a student's entitlement to a third level maintenance grant. [24740/98]
Entitlement to a grant operates on a graduated basis. To qualify for a grant the candidate's reckonable income must be below the appropriate income limit which varies for the level of grant and in relation to the number of dependent children in the family. Different limits apply where there are fewer than four dependent children between four and seven, and eight or more dependants.
There is provision in the higher education grants scheme for dependent children over the age of 16 who are medically certified as permanently unfit for work to be considered as dependent children. Prior to the 1998 higher education grant scheme, the allowance referred to by the Deputy applied only in cases where there were two or more family members in full time third level education. I made provision in the 1998 scheme to extend this allowance to include those family members attending other educational courses such as a recognised PLC course, student nurse training or student Garda training, those participating in certain CERT courses and those attending full time Teagasc courses in an agricultural college. I also increased the allowance by 3 per cent. In the relevant cases the reckonable income limits may now be increased by £2,060 where there are two such children, £4,120 where there are three and so on by increments of £2,060.
I have already indicated that there is provision in the scheme to regard as dependent those children medically certified as permanently unfit for work. Moreover, the additional allowance in respect of other children attending further education was originally introduced and has now been extended by me in recognition of the costs incurred in this regard.
However, the issue raised by Deputy O'Shea's question is one which I will keep under review and I will consider it again in the context of the framing of the 1999 student support schemes.
When a young person with special needs finishes his or her education at 18 years and does not obtain a day-care place an extra cost is incurred by the family because the young person must be taken care of at home. The allowance of £2,060 could be used to pay someone to look after the young person while the parents are at work. This would be particularly useful in the case of single-parent families.
This is a complex area. It was not entirely clear in the Department precisely what measure was being sought by the Deputy. I am not sure if the young people described by him come into the category of dependent children over the age of 16 who are medically certified as being permanently unfit for work. I am prepared to discuss sympathetically the details of his suggestion or individual cases with Deputy O'Shea. The student support scheme for 1998 has already been passed and any measure such as that suggested by the Deputy could only be discussed in the context of the 1999 scheme. It would be necessary to clarify the definitions used by mine and other Departments concerning young people with special needs but I would be happy to dicuss those details with the Deputy.
I thank the Minister for his constructive response. I hope he can find a mechanism to fund the provision of daytime care while a parent is out working. The support grant of £2,060 is what I have in mind.
