Vol. 789 No. 1
122. Deputy Charlie McConalogue asked the Minister for Education and Skills when he expects the problems with student grants to be resolved and all students who have qualified to be in receipt of their grant; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2839/13]
I understand from Student Universal Support Ireland, SUSI, that grants processing is largely up to date and that completed applications are now being dealt with as they come in. The majority of the 3,700 students currently awaiting payment will be paid within the next two weeks, depending on their submission of bank account details.
Some 47,674 decisions have been made, compared with 40,513 at the same time in 2012. Although this does not take away from the delays experienced prior to Christmas, it is welcome news. Of the remaining applications, in the case of over 9,000 online applications, students have never sent in any documentation, and SUSI is engaging with those students to confirm closing out these applications. Documentation is outstanding in the remaining 10,000 cases. This is similar to the position in previous years and SUSI is actively contacting students to assist them with finalising their applications.
The Minister has not given an update on the number of students who have been paid the grants. Whenever the issue has been raised in the Dáil, including a Private Members' motion on 12 November, the Minister apologised to students and gave an assurance that over 90% of those who applied to SUSI and expected to be paid would be paid by Christmas. The reality was somewhat different and, as of the start of January, only half the students who expected to be paid in total had been paid. That amounted to 16,000 students approximately, with 32,000 expected to be paid before SUSI finishes work this year.
Does the Deputy have a question?
That is a further failure some two months from the Minister's apology, with only half of the people having been paid. There is a constant tenor running through the responses from the Department and the Minister on the issue over the past few months that what is happening is similar to what happened in other years.
The Minister tried to give this impression again today when he stated this year's figure is not significantly different from figures for previous years. Many students are experiencing exceptional hardship as a result of what has occurred. It is a disgrace that at a time when families and students face so many economic pressures, the primary cause of hardship for students has been the Government's incompetence in failing to deliver student grants on time. How many students have been paid the grant? When will all of those who have provided the documentation requested by Student Universal Support Ireland receive their grants?
The Deputy raised a number of issues which I will answer as best I can with the information I have on hand. Of the live applications where documentation is still outstanding, approximately half of applicants returned incomplete documentation, while the other half were requested to submit supplementary documentation arising from the assessment of their applications.
On the basis that the latter group has already been assessed and only supplementary information is required for completion, this group has been prioritised for a telephone call-out campaign in recent weeks. In addition, Student Universal Support Ireland will continue to contact inactive applicants with a view to closing these applications as quickly as possible. Furthermore, given that the gap between those fully approved for maintenance payments and those who have been paid is some 3,700, a telephone call-out campaign has been undertaken to ensure awarded applicants submit their bank account details online as soon as they can in order that they can be paid as soon as possible.
Again, I ask the Minister to provide the updated figure on the number of grants that have been paid at this stage. The Minister indicated prior to Christmas that he expected 90% of the total students who will receive a grant to be paid before Christmas. As I noted in early January, only half of this group had been paid their grants at that point. It is unacceptable that Deputies are continually informed that Student Universal Support Ireland is awaiting documentation. Many of the third level students affected by this issue are in desperate need of their payment. It is also unacceptable to try to create an impression that the reason for the delay is that SUSI is awaiting documentation from this group because that is simply not the case. Deputies and members of students unions are able to show that many students, having supplied documentation, have been asked to produce it a second, third and in some cases fourth time. How many grants have been paid and what percentage of the anticipated total number of grants does this represent?
I do not have the precise figure to hand, although I believe the information the Deputy seeks is provided in a subsequent reply. I hope to be able to provide it by the end of Question Time and, if not, I will circulate it to the Deputy as soon as possible. Based on a briefing I received yesterday, I understand that in many cases while the documentation submitted to Student Universal Support Ireland contained the relevant information, it did not relate to the relevant year. Problems have arisen with the information that has been submitted to SUSI and ongoing attempts are being made to contact by telephone or online students whose applications are incomplete.
123. Deputy Jonathan O'Brien asked the Minister for Education and Skills if he will provide in tabular form a breakdown of third level students on a county basis who have had their maintenance grant application accepted by Student Universal Support Ireland but have still to receive payment; the number of students who have appealed the decision of SUSI and are awaiting the outcome of that decision and the numbers of students who are still waiting to have their appeal heard. [3084/13]
As requested by the Deputy, I am providing a breakdown, in tabular form, of the 2,622 third level students on a county basis who have been awarded a maintenance grant and are now due to be paid by Student Universal Support Ireland. Some 1,148 post-leaving certificate course students are also due to be paid. The majority of these students awaiting payment will be paid within the next two weeks, depending on their submission of bank account details.
As at 18 January 2013, Student Universal Support Ireland has received some 4,042 appeals. Of these, decisions have been made in 2,665 cases and have yet to be made in the remaining 1,377. I understand staff have been reassigned to the processing of appeals to ensure students receive decisions in a timely manner.
Higher Education Students Not Yet Paid as at 18 January 2013
|
County |
Number of Students |
|
Carlow |
43 |
|
Cavan |
39 |
|
Clare |
79 |
|
Cork |
279 |
|
Donegal |
145 |
|
Dublin |
460 |
|
Galway |
201 |
|
Kerry |
113 |
|
Kildare |
93 |
|
Kilkenny |
62 |
|
Laois |
53 |
|
Leitrim |
30 |
|
Limerick |
106 |
|
Longford |
22 |
|
Louth |
81 |
|
Mayo |
120 |
|
Meath |
94 |
|
Monaghan |
60 |
|
Offaly |
54 |
|
Roscommon |
52 |
|
Sligo |
52 |
|
Tipperary |
101 |
|
Waterford |
72 |
|
Westmeath |
61 |
|
Wexford |
87 |
|
Wicklow |
56 |
|
Outside of Ireland |
7 |
|
Total |
2622 |
We will study the table when we get it. Obviously, given the nature of Question Time, we do not get that information in writing.
The Minister spoke in reply to the previous question of students being required to furnish supplementary documentation. The reality is very different from what the Minister is being told.
For instance, I know of an individual who was asked for her father's death certificate three times. She has sent it in a third time. The certificates are being lost.
I will outline an example of just how flawed the system is and I will provide the Minister with the details after this debate.
Please do.
Two brothers applied on the same day for maintenance grants and payment of registration fees. One application was awarded, but the other was denied. When the brother whose application had been denied queried the decision on the grounds of living in the same house, having the same income and being subject to the same means test, he was told that he did not satisfy the means test. When it was pointed out that his brother had received a grant, Student Universal Support Ireland, SUSI, checked the system and explained that his brother had actually been refused. His brother has received the registration fees and is in receipt of the maintenance grant. According to SUSI's central system, though, his application was refused and no money was provided.
In one situation, people are being told that they are not entitled to payment, yet are in receipt of it. In another, people are entitled to payment, yet are awaiting it. The system is a disaster.
All I can say is that this is the first year of the system's roll-out. We have encountered problems and are trying to solve them. If the Deputy has specific cases, such as those he just cited, I would like to get the details from him to pursue the issue earnestly.
I will provide the details of the case involving the two brothers in particular.
I thank the Deputy.
The brother who has received payment fears that he will be chased for its return. It is distressing for him, given the fact that he obviously cannot afford to attend college.
I presume that there will be a review of SUSI's operation at some stage. Will the Minister provide the timeframe of such a review? The priority is to get through as many applications and payments as possible, but will the Minister indicate what type of review will be conducted? Would there be a role for the Oireachtas education committee or will the review be done by departmental and SUSI officials solely?
We are finalising the review's terms of reference and composition and how it will proceed. I want all of SUSI's attention to be devoted to processing outstanding applications before we get into a review of how adequately prepared SUSI was and whether it had accurately anticipated the scale of what needed to be done. Everyone, including SUSI, admits that there are operational problems. I will consider whether SUSI should make a comprehensive report to the Oireachtas education committee.
124. Deputy Finian McGrath asked the Minister for Education and Skills if he will provide an update on primary school funding in disadvantaged areas in 2013. [3147/13]
Education is a priority for the Government and we will endeavour to protect and enhance the educational experience of children, young people and students in disadvantaged areas. The Government has protected DEIS resources provided by my Department, with no overall changes to DEIS-related staffing levels or DEIS funding as a result of budget 2013.
As part of the DEIS programme, a total of €69 million is being provided to 665 primary schools, supporting 100,595 pupils and some 930 additional teacher posts. This funding provides for reduced class sizes, the home-school community liaison service, the support teacher project, DEIS and book grants to individual schools. However, it should be noted that, as the DEIS teaching allocation to individual schools is enrolment based, increasing or decreasing enrolment will determine whether particular schools gain or lose posts from year to year.
In addition, these schools will also receive further supports through the school meals programmes and the school completion programme provided by my colleagues, the Ministers for Social Protection and Children and Youth Affairs, respectively.
I thank the Minister for his response. Does he accept that the situation for many primary schoolchildren in disadvantaged schools has worsened in the past two years, given the significant levels of unemployment? The national figure is in the region of 15%, but the figure in many of the disadvantaged schools' areas can be as much as 25% or 30% as a result of austerity measures.
Does the Minister accept that many primary schoolchildren in disadvantaged schools are suffering immensely?
Thousands of children go to school every day not knowing where their next meal will come from when they get home in the evening. Does the Minister accept that is very difficult for those families? It is extremely difficult to go to a class at 9 a.m. and focus on five hours of education and extra-curricular activities if one does not have proper meals. How does the Minister expect such four year olds or six years olds to be educated and to try to aim towards third level in the long term?
I accept the Minister’s point that education is a priority despite the economic situation. Will he be able to hold out this year and preserve the integrity and supports for disadvantaged schools?
There has been no reduction in front-line services in this year’s budget, in particular for DEIS schools. There are increasing pressures across the system because of the economic circumstances in which we find ourselves. As a former national school teacher himself, Deputy McGrath is aware that the majority of disadvantaged young people are not necessarily in DEIS schools. There are many such young people in regular schools who are suffering disadvantage as a result of changed circumstances in the home. Some principal teachers have brought to my attention the fact that they are running informal breakfast clubs through their own efforts to address the issue raised by Deputy McGrath whereby young children in a home in some cases might be the first up and out in the morning and are coming to school without a proper breakfast. The situation is not satisfactory and when the economy recovers, we will have to address such issues.
On the €69 million and DEIS schools, I encourage the Minister to ensure that, despite the economic and financial situation, priority is given to such schools and pupils. I am well aware of the situation to which the Minister referred with breakfast clubs. I encourage people to ensure that those schools have priority funding and supports to ensure the children get a fair start.
The Minister adverted in his initial reply to the problem in some schools with enrolment. If numbers drop, a problem could arise and a local DEIS school could take a hit which would be damaging to the school. Is there any way around the problem or does the Minister have a solution to it?
As the Deputy is aware, enrolment is taken in October in the primary school system. Entitlements to additional supports and teacher allocation are based on those figures. If there are changes from one year to another, then they obviously have an impact on entitlement. If enrolment falls in October of year one compared to year zero, that can affect to a partial or more significant extent the entitlement of the school. There are no proposals currently to change the system. If schools have experienced difficulty, I suggest they contact the Department to find out if ameliorating measures could be provided. However, we are stretched at the moment in every respect.
125. Deputy Charlie McConalogue asked the Minister for Education and Skills if he has met with the Institute of Guidance Counsellors to discuss the issues that emerged from a recent survey by the IGC in particular the impact of cuts to disadvantaged schools and the reduction in one to one counselling; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2840/13]
I will arrange for officials of my Department to be briefed by the Institute of Guidance Counsellors on its recent survey. I have already acknowledged to the House, and previously to the Institute of Guidance Counsellors, that bringing guidance provision within quota is challenging for schools. However, the alternative was adjusting the pupil-teacher ratio, PTR, staffing allocations. All of us in the public sector have to do more with less and teachers, including those who are assigned as guidance counsellors, cannot be exempt from this requirement.
It is important to note that the provision of guidance in schools is a whole-school activity and it does not just involve the guidance counsellor. All teachers in the school have an important role including year heads and that is not captured in surveys of this type. The budget decision sheltered the impact for all DEIS post-primary schools by improving their standard staffing allocations.
Since the Minister introduced the cut to guidance counselling services last year, the service in schools throughout the country has been decimated. That was shown clearly by the Institute of Guidance Counsellors survey last week which showed that one-to-one time with students is down 50%, or halved. It also showed that guidance services in 13% of cases are being provided by unqualified guidance teachers.
When the Minister introduced the cut, he indicated that it was about empowering schools to make their own decisions. He has also indicated on several occasions since then, when challenged on this issue, that there should be a whole-school approach to guidance. There is no doubt there should be such an approach to guidance. It is important that each teacher plays a role. However, when each teacher plays a role, what happens when the student goes to the door of the guidance counsellor and the door is closed because the counsellor is not there? Not everything can be dealt with by the ordinary teachers.
The 700 guidance counsellors in this country are qualified for what they do. The Minister has decimated a sector and profession that took years to build. Across the country, in many cases students are unable to get access to guidance counsellors. Then the problem escalates and in many instances they must be referred to the main mental health services with bigger problems. I ask the Minister to acknowledge the impact the cut has had.
The decision I took last year, somewhat reluctantly, was to mainstream guidance counsellors in post-primary schools. In some cases this had no impact on the overall allocation because the size of the school was such that full-time counsellors continued in their positions. Where smaller secondary schools were involved, a decision was made by the principals about the best allocation of scarce resources to that school in terms of requiring a guidance counsellor who was also a qualified teacher to spend part of his or her time teaching a subject in the classroom as well as providing guidance. While we talk about guidance, it is fair to point out that in many respects the concern in recent years and months has been about the pastoral care dimension of the role of guidance counsellor, as distinct from traditional career guidance. That is what the Deputy is stressing.
There is the backup service of the National Educational Psychological Service, NEPS, for acute problems. Ultimately, there is a responsibility on the principal and board of management of the school to contact me or explain directly to the Department if they are unable to cope with the volume of problems they currently have. To my knowledge, I have received no communications in the Department of such concerns from principals.
If the Minister had taken the time to meet with the Institute of Guidance Counsellors, he might have received that feedback in the last week or so. As I pointed out, its survey shows that one-to-one time with students is down by 50%. There is a crisis among our young people at present with mental health issues. It impacts on a small percentage of students but there are far more factors and stressors involved now not only because of the economic situation, but also because of developments in recent years in social media and cyber issues.
I have often heard the Minister make the point that he allocated €500,000 to resource the new plan which he plans to publish later this week. On the other hand, however, the Minister has removed the specific allocation for the 700 qualified guidance counsellors and put it back into the schools' main budget. It is the removal of over €20 million from that particular budget. Indeed, the Minister is taking the people who are best placed to deal with the issues at the coalface in the schools out of the system, and in a way that inhibits their ability to do that work. That is the impact it has had. I ask the Minister to revisit this issue.
The Deputy is misrepresenting what I decided in the previous budget. I have mainstreamed guidance counsellor teachers within the overall allocation of teachers to post-primary schools.
I have entrusted the redeployment or deployment of that resource, both the subject teacher who is also a guidance teacher, to the principal or the deputy principal of the school as they see fit. That is a right and proper thing to do at a time of scarce resources. The alternative was for guidance counsellors to be considered outside the general allocation and to be confined, which would have meant that they would not be eligible to be redeployed even if there was a need for redeployment or the capacity for them to be redeployed. This was conveyed to me by a number of different principals The decision as to provide for the allocation of guidance teachers who have subject specialties to be redeployed as the principal sees fit and that is a delegation of responsibility and power, which many principals have welcomed because they previously did not have it.
Where the numbers are such that a full-time guidance counsellor is required, he or she will continue to provide that work. I will ask departmental officials to examine the survey in detail and to meet representatives of the Institute of Guidance Counsellors to explore the detail of how this happening. Let us be clear about this. We are in a position where all of us in the House and across the country are being asked to do more with less and guidance counsellors are no different in that respect from anybody else.
126. Deputy Jonathan O'Brien asked the Minister for Education and Skills his views on whether the suspension of the minor works grant represents a false saving in view of comments (details supplied) that schools that are unable to afford to meet the cost of minor maintenance costs will result in school buildings falling into a much greater state of disrepair. [3085/13]
When the minor works grant last issued in November 2011 for the school year 2011-12, I stated that, given the need to focus on meeting the demand for additional school places, it was unlikely that funding would be available for the minor works grant in the coming years. This is borne out by the fact that, in 2012, some 85% of the capital expenditure in the school sector was in respect of large scale projects, additional accommodation and prefab replacement. The balance was expended on site acquisition, emergency works, furniture and equipment provision and commitments arising from earlier years. Minor works grants have issued to primary schools since 1997, enabling significant investment in maintenance works across the entire school infrastructure over that period. While the focus of resources needs to be on providing additional school places, an emergency works fund continues in place to address emergencies that arise in schools. A sum of €10 million is set aside annually for such emergencies.
Does the Minister agree minor works grants were used by schools, particularly older schools, to continually upgrade classrooms and infrastructure and, as a result, they were able to maintain the school estate? This decision could mean that in the long term, because schools will be unable to do continual maintenance and upgrading, further pressure will be put on the capital budget for school building replacement and so on. While the Minister will probably save money in the short term, this could potentially cost the public in the longer term. Has he carried out a review of when he proposes to reintroduce the grant or has it been abolished completely? Will it be dependent on finances from year to year? This will affect smaller rural schools, in particular. Apart from maintaining the school estate, the grants also provided valuable employment and business locally and we should not forget that. Every grant to a school is spent in the local community by local providers carrying out the work and that has a knock-on effect.
I regret I had to make the choice between ensuring net additional accommodation was available for the increasing number of young people who continue to be born in this country and the maintenance of older schools in need of repair. The old saying, "A stitch in time saves nine", comes immediately to mind. Early intervention in many cases will reduce or remove the need for more substantial repairs down the road. I hope to return to the minor works scheme, which provides approximately €5,400 per primary school, if resources allow but, as I have said repeatedly, if I have to choose between a child looking into a field or a playground, I have to make the choice in favour of the playground and new school. That means with limited resources I cannot do what was good practice in the past, but I would like to return to that as soon as resources permit.
The Minister mentioned the emergency fund of €10 million. Given that we no longer have the minor works grant, is the Minister expecting an upsurge in the number of applications for the emergency fund? Is the Minister satisfied that the fund, which he put in place, will be adequate to deal with that upsurge?
I take it that the Deputy is referring to the emergency fund of €10 million. An emergency has to be an emergency in the first instance. A case was reported in the newspapers before Christmas of a school that was not properly heated because the principal did not have the money for repairs. The school in question had not applied for any kind of grant for the heating system. When I heard the story, I made inquiries myself. No application had been received from the school in relation to the heating problem.
An emergency is, literally, an emergency. It occurs when something goes wrong. In those circumstances I have no reason to believe €10 million is an inadequate sum. If an emergency arises and the fund has been exhausted, we will find the money in some way, but we are constrained.
