Vol. 511 No. 3
361 Mr. Perry asked the Minister for Education and Science if financial assistance will be provided to a person (details supplied) to enable him continue his post graduate studies in Maynooth, County Kildare; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24046/99]
I understand that the student in question was in receipt of a higher education grant from Sligo County Council in respect of his attendance at an undergraduate course from 1994 to 1997. He was out of college in 1997-98 and 1998-99. He applied to Sligo County Council for a higher education grant in 1999-2000 in respect of his attendance at a postgraduate course.
The higher education grant schemes operate under the Local Authorities (Higher Education Grants) Acts, 1968 to 1992. These Acts define a mature student to mean a person "of not less than 23 years of age, or such other age as may stand specified for the time being in regulations made by the Minister with the consent of the Minister for Finance, who have secured places in approved institutions and have reached that age on January, or such other date as may be prescribed form time to time by the Minister with the consent of the Minister for Finance, in the year of entry to such institutions". As the person to whom the Deputy refers was not 23 years on 1 January 1999 he could not be assessed as a mature student.
When assessing the means of students other than mature students, the Acts specify that the students' means and those of their parents or guardians must be below a prescribed limit. This provision requires that parental income be taken into account irrespective of the individual circumstances in any case where the student is not a mature student.
As the reckonable income in his case does not come within the current income limits for the award of a grant or fees, he is ineligible for assistance under the higher education grants scheme.
362 Mr. P. Carey asked the Minister for Education and Science if his attention has been drawn to an anomaly in the higher education grants scheme where persons (details supplied) in Dublin 11, who were forced to emigrate when their son was 12 years of age and who returned to reside in Ireland in August 1998, find that they do not qualify for free university fees; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24047/99]
Under the free fees initiative tuition fees are payable in respect of eligible EU nationals who have been ordinarily resident in an EU member state for at least three of the five years preceding entry to their third-level course. I would point out to the Deputy that this condition applies equally to all EU nationals, including Irish nationals, in accordance with the judgment of the European Court of Justice that access to vocational training must apply equally to all EU nationals. I understand that similar residency requirements operate in the other EU member states.
The removal of this residency condition for Irish nationals would have to apply to EU nationals generally and could have significant resource implications for the Exchequer. The matter has been raised by a number of Deputies and I have asked my officials to re-examine the issue and report to me in due course.
Under the higher education grants scheme and the VEC scholarships scheme a candidate who is not eligible for free tuition under the free fees initiative may be awarded a full or part grant in respect of lecture fees provided s/he meets all other conditions of the schemes. In order to be eligible for an award under these schemes, a candidate must fulfil conditions as to residence, age, academic attainments, means and nationality. In order to fulfil the residency requirement a candidate's parents, or, in the case of an independent mature candidate, the candidate herself-himself, must have been resident in the administrative area of the local authority from the 1 October of the year prior to entry on an approved course. The local authority has discretion to waive this requirement in exceptional circumstances.
