I gave leave to Senator West to raise the following matter on the Adjournment: the delay in the payment of post-graduate grants by the Department of Education.
Adjournment Matter. - Post-graduate Grant Payments.
I am pleased to have the opportunity to raise this matter on the Adjournment. As the House will know, on the Adjournment one can raise minor administrative matters, one of the rules being that extra expenditure is not proposed. I do not propose to advocate extra expenditure. This is a minor administrative matter of extreme importance.
The Senator will not stop me from making extra expenditure.
I would be delighted, but I do not suppose even the Minister can refer to that in his reply, otherwise he would be out of order too. I recognise the fact that there has been some movement in this regard. The matter is an administrative one, it does not cause extra expenditure because the expenditure is already accounted for and agreed. It is of extreme importance to that small but highly-important group of people who are in receipt of post-graduate awards for research in pure science and engineering. These people are all postgraduates. They are a highly important sector of our community.
The Minister and the Higher Education Authority have recently set aside money for a large increase in our technological education, and everybody is well aware of the importance not only of the primary degrees in technology but also of the post graduate work. I would like to emphasise this. Everybody knows now that in these areas, where knowledge is moving at such a pace, it is just not sufficient to end one's training at the first degree level. The good students are encouraged to go on to learn more and to develop techniques to become expert in certain areas of importance.
The State has recognised the importance of this by making awards to people who are studying for research degrees in pure science and engineering. Those who are the holders of first class degrees or upper second class degrees in pure science and engineering are eligible for awards which are paid out to the Department of Education. This scheme started back in 1970-1971 and the level of the awards at that time was £350 for the first year and renewal being £400. In 1978-79 the first award was £540 per annum and the renewal for second or third years, upwards of three years, was £600 per annum.
I wish to protest about the failure of the Department of Education to pay these grants in time. The situation, as it stands at the moment, is that students who are eligible for these awards are paid from 1 October monthly in arrears. The normal practice has been for the first two or in some cases three months to go by without any payment being made to these students. This is purely a matter of administration. It does not involve any extra expenditure and it is something that could be overcome by a very simple bit of pressure from the Minister on his Department to ensure that grants are paid at the appropriate time.
Students in the last few years have had to wait sometimes until Christmas. In one case, in one year, students were studying for three months before the grant was paid. They were taking their courses from October to December and the grant was paid late in December. What are these unfortunate students meant to live on? A grant is meant to be paid monthly in arrears, so the first payment should be made at the end of October or at the very least at the very beginning of November. The practice has grown up that the first payment is not made before the end of November, sometimes the beginning of December, in one particular case, the end of December. For three months in that year these post graduate students had to exist on bread and water. In fact they had to go to the bank, get a loan and pay the exorbitant rate of interest the banks charge for lending money. The banks are only too delighted to have student loans. It is currently Government policy to cut down our borrowing requirements and to encourage people to restrain their borrowing——
For productive purposes?
——except for productive purposes. This might be regarded as productive purposes but it is an administrative lacuna that they have to go to the banks at all. I do not think there is any reason for this, particularly in the case of students who are continuing. There may be a reason for a delay in the students who are being signed on for the first time if they are late in getting a supervisor or late in getting acceptance. For those who are continuing, who have done one year with two years to go, have done two years with a further year to go of their post-graduate training in research in pure science and engineering, there is absolutely no reason for the late payment. I want to protest most strongly on behalf of these students who are a highly important sector of the community.
The grants are not very high. The Minister has acknowledged this. He is doing the best he can to rectify this situation. In view of that there is absolutely no reason why the grants should not be paid on time. An unfortunate practice has grown up in the Minister's Department by which the grants are paid one, two and sometimes three months late. That is a scandal. I am not advocating increased expenditure, I am just advocating that the grants be paid on time. I am asking that the practice by which grants are paid two or three months late be terminated now and the people who are entitled to these awards get paid on time. Of course, the obvious comparison is with Northern Ireland and Britain. In Northern Ireland and Britain once a student is registered by the universities for these grants the grants are available. The university is given the grants in advance, the grants are available and once a student is registered he can be handed the envelope over the counter. I do not see any reason why we could not adopt a similar practice here.
Would the Senator say about which week of term they are handed over?
When they reach them.
At the beginning of the year?
The grants are all there. There is a whole bundle of envelopes there for the people to hand out when they are registered. This is for continuing students. For a person who is signing on for the time, of course, there is a necessary delay.
These are research grants?
Yes. I am only able to touch the tip of the iceberg but, of course, there are problems at the undergraduate level. However, since these grants are paid in that case by local authorities they do not come directly under the Minister. There is a serious problem there. There again the Northern Ireland Government have the envelopes ready.
Something similar happens with English students who are studying in Ireland. In the case of the post-graduate students the Northern Ireland grants are paid on the nail. There is not this long delay. I do not see, as a matter of bureaucratic administration, why this cannot be done in our situation.
The unfortunate people have had to go to the banks. They have had to take out loans. This costs them money. This could be avoided. It is Government policy to avoid this sort of thing. All I am asking the Minister to do is to give me an assurance that this year and from now on the grants will be paid on time. As of yesterday, the forms which are used by the students for application for these grants had not arrived, at least in the university in which I teach. Of course, the Minister may have sent them out many weeks ago. It may be the fault of his colleague further down the road who is responsible for other administrative delays. The situation is the grant forms have not arrived. If the forms have not arrived, applications cannot be made and the grants cannot be paid.
I will not accuse the Minister of wanting to cheese pare in this area. He is not saving much money by holding on to these grants for a couple of months. He is not that sort of person. He is making a few bob in interest if he has the money in the bank, but the individual student, who is entitled to 540 in his first year and £600 in his second year, has to borrow money from the bank to survive the first couple of months. That is an absolute disgrace.
I would ask in the most pressing manner I can that the Minister look personally into this area, that he take the necessary steps to revive the procedures. I am sure that the third-level institutions will be only too happy to help the Minister and his officials in dealing with the administration of these grants. I know that the Minister has a good relationship with the institutions involved and there is no reason why they could not work out a satisfactory procedure by which the first payment of the grants would be paid, at the very latest, at the beginning of November to students who register in the beginning of October. I would urge the Minister most strongly to alleviate the position that these students find themselves in.
Is mian liom ar dtús a rá go bhfuil fhios agam go bhfuil na deontais teach an-thábhachtach agus go bhfuil na micléinn a dheimheann iad an-thábhachtach i leith forbairt na tíre. I agree with Senator West that these are very important students and that the research grants in pure science and engineering are important not merely for the students but for the whole country and the development of it. I am a little puzzled because of a reference that the Senator made to the possible fault of a colleague of mine, because the payment of the grants this year will be at the very same time as they were each year since the scheme was initiated. Consequently there is no specific blame attaching to any colleague of mine. The scheme to which the Senator refers—the post-graduate training scheme and research—is operated on the basis of the academic year. The current academic year has only just begun and it is difficult to see how any complaint of delay could be justified at this stage. The allowances under the scheme are paid monthly by my Department to all suitably qualified applicants—the first class honours and the second class honours, too—and the first month for which payment is due is October 1979. Payment for that month will be made in the normal way in November.
The payment of the allowances is subject inter alia to confirmation by the university authorities of date of commencement and total income from all sources in respect of the students concerned, so that the actual bureaucratic work does not rest with my Department alone. There is also certain obligation on the institutions of higher learning concerned. The latter information is required because there is a maximum level of permitted income from all sources and if this limit is exceeded the grant is reduced accordingly.
About October of each year the relevant forms are sent to the university departments for certification in this respect, and the Senator has told me—he was very coy about naming it—that in an institution which he knows well, giving us all 14 guesses as to which one it is, the forms have not arrived. I cannot understand what has happened. I must find out and if necessary, by special courier, they will be delivered to his institution tomorrow. There is a relatively simple procedure in relation to renewal students, that is second and third years, and the Senator adverted to this. Applications for first year grants have to be considered by an advisory committee, bringing in more people than my Department. The universities themselves and the higher education authority act on those advisory committees. For this year I understand the committee will meet shortly. It is not always easy to get the various institutions together, the date that would suit one would not suit another, but they will be meeting shortly to review the current year's applicantions. In the case of renewal students approximately 50 of 160 forms sent to the universities have so far been received back in my Department. This may be explained by one institution not having received these forms. Arrangements are being made to have the grants paid early in November to students in respect of whom the appropriate forms have been returned to my Department.
This is the normal course of action and it cannot be expected that students will be paid for the month of October until the actual month has expired and it is known that they have completed the month's research. There seems to be a principle there of delivering for the work done. It has therefore been normal practice to pay the grants for renewal students in November for the month of October and this practice has been adhered to by my Department in so far as the relevant information has been made available to us. Accordingly, in the case of renewal grants there has been no delay whatever and payments will be made shortly as in the previous years, but I gather from Senator West that he is not merely referring to this year but is making an attack on the system as it has obtained since 1971.
Yes.
As regards first-year students the question of delay in payment could not arise at this stage as such grants are normally paid in December and the procedure in relation to the awards for such grants under the scheme is the same this year as in previous years. The scheme was advertised in May 1979 and the latest receipt of applications was 31 August 1979. These applications are then verified with the universities, and as some of them relate to results in the autumn examinations this process cannot be completed until October. The advisory committee to which I have referred already then come together to review the applications and awards are made in the light of their recommendations. A meeting of the advisory committee to review this year's applications will be held very shortly and it is expected that payment of the first moiety of the grant will be made as usual in December. The scheme is one to which I attach great importance. I agree with Senator West that these students deserve all our consideration and I have indicated that in very practical ways since I took office. In 1977 the values of the grants were, first-year students £450, second- and third-year £500 and for the total income level £1,100 was permitted by way of earnings outside the grant. From January 1978 the grants were increased to £540 for first-year students and £600 for second- and third-year students. From October 1978 the permitted income level was increased to £1,450.
I am happy to be in a position now, if Senator West allows me on the rules of the House, to announce a further improvement in these provisions which will be offered from 1 October 1979 as follows: for first-year students there is an increase from £540 to £640, for renewal students there is an increase from £600 to £700 and the total income level—the Provost of Trinity College mentioned this to me as one point which was concerning him and so did people in other colleges—increased from £1,450 to £1,700.
I congratulate the Minister on these increases.
One does not want to be doing the buail an sciath bit but one in entitled occasionally to beat the drum. I will see about the forms, as I have already mentioned and also if there is any way that the scheme can be tightened up I undertake to do so.
The Seanad adjourned at 7.40 p.m. until 2.30 p.m. on Wednesday, 14 November 1979.