Dáil Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 11 Dec 2002

Vol. 559 No. 2

Written Answers. - Third Level Education.

Seymour Crawford

Question:

148 Mr. Crawford asked the Minister for Education and Science if tax relief is available towards the cost of student maintenance for third level education; if his attention has been drawn to the fact that County Monaghan has one of the lowest levels of participation in third level education; his views on whether this is basically due to the fact that it has no third level institution; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26105/02]

Minister for Education and Science (Mr. N. Dempsey)

Section 473A of the Taxes Consolidation Act, 1997, provides relief from income tax, at the standard rate of tax, for tuition fees paid in respect of approved third level courses in approved colleges. The maximum level of qualifying fee for tax relief purposes is €3,175. Further details and conditions in relation to this relief are available from the Revenue Commissioners.

I am aware of the recent report by Professor Pat Clancy on participation in higher education in Ireland, which found variability in the rates of admission to higher education in its examination of admission rates by county and, in the case of Dublin, by postal district. In relation to County Monaghan, Professor Clancy's findings were that, when data on third level colleges in Northern Ireland were taken into account, Monaghan was one of the counties with a medium rather than a low rate of admission to third level education.

Professor Clancy's findings are based on a national survey of all those who enrolled as new entrants to full-time third level education in autumn 1998. This was before the impact of the present Government's significant extra investment in further and higher education.

With regard to the general issue of participation rates at higher education, there is provision within the national development plan for a third level access fund totalling €120 million, over the period 2000 to 2006, to tackle disadvantage at third level. In line with a commitment under the Programme for Prosperity and Fairness, my predecessor, Deputy Michael Woods, established the action group on access to third level education to advise on the development of a co-ordinated strategy to increase participation of students from disadvantaged backgrounds, mature students and students with a disability at third level. The action group's report was published in July 2001.

To date a number of measures have been taken in response to some of the main recommendations in the report aimed at increasing participation in third level education by students from disadvantaged backgrounds: – special rates of maintenance grant, usually referred to as "top-up" grants, payable to disadvantaged grant holders, were introduced with effect from the 2000-01 academic year. Following a recent review, I increased the annual income thresholds for the special rates by 32%, a significant increase. For 2002-03, I also increased the special rate of grant to €4,000 for students residing more than 15 miles from college and €1,600 for students resident within 15 miles of college. This is equivalent to a "top-up" of €1,490 and €596 respectively, for eligible students, on the ordinary maintenance grant. As a result of the review, it is expected that the number of students qualifying for the "top-up" grant in 2002-03 will double to 7,000 students.

A new millennium partnership fund for disadvantage was introduced with effect from 2001. The fund provides assistance to partnership companies and community groups to develop their support schemes for students from disadvantaged families. Area Development Management (ADM) Limited under whose aegis the partnerships operate, accepted my Department's request that it would administer the fund for the 2001-02 academic year. The total allocation for the 2001-2002 academic year was €1.2 million, with 37 partnerships and community groups receiving allocations from the fund. For 2002-03, I have increased the provision for the fund to €2 million. ADM Limited, which is continuing to administer the fund, has notified 50 area partnerships, including Monaghan Partnership, and community groups of their allocations in respect of the 2002-03 academic year.