Dáil Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 26 Jan 2000

Vol. 513 No. 1

Written Answers. - Higher Education Grants.

Trevor Sargent

Question:

752 Mr. Sargent asked the Minister for Education and Science if he will increase maintenance grants for third level students in view of the fact that current rates are lower than student costs even without the considerations of exorbitant rents being charged for rented accommodation. [1528/00]

Minister for Education and Science (Mr. Martin):

I have previously indicated my intention to first seek to deal with the more significant anomalies or disincentives in the grants schemes before dealing with the more general issue of grant levels and income limits. Accordingly, my approach has been to follow the practice of recent years and increase the value of maintenance grants in line with inflation as measured by the change in the Consumer Price Index for the period mid-February to mid-February each year.

My initial priority was to honour the commitment given in the programme for Government, An Action Programme for the Millennium, to introduce equitable support for students attending PLC courses. I have honoured that commitment and introduced a maintenance grants scheme for students attending post leaving certificate courses with effect from the 1998-99 academic year.

I have also addressed the position of mature students in general and independent mature students in particular, under the student support schemes. The rate of maintenance grant payable is determined by reference to the distance from the student's normal residence to the college which she or he is attending. In the case of independent mature students, their normal residence is taken as their address while in attendance at college. Accordingly, a large proportion of independent mature students only qualified for the lower adjacent rate of grant. With effect from the current academic year, all eligible mature students will qualify for the higher non-adjacent rate of maintenance grant at an estimated cost of £2.4 million over the next two years.

Under the National Development Plan 2000-2006, there is provision for a third level access fund totalling £95 million. This fund will be used,inter alia, to provide financial support to disadvantaged students by way of additional support to the existing maintenance grant schemes. Details of this additional support will be announced in due course.

Finally, on the issue of student accommodation, I would point out to the Deputy that the Government has introduced special tax incentives to encourage the provision of student rented residential accommodation in the 1999 Finance Act.