asked the Minister for Education if he intends to raise the eligibility limits for higher education grants' holders; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
7.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Higher Education Grants.
6.
asked the Minister for Education when and by how much he proposes to increase the eligibility levels for third level grants.
With the permission of the Ceann Comhairle, I propose to take Questions Nos. 6 and 7 together.
This matter is under review and I shall make a statement when returns which are being made at present by the local authorities have been received and considered.
Does the Minister recollect that on 26 October last in the name of the Government he accepted a Labour Party motion calling for the raising of the eligibility grants? Why has nothing yet been done about it?
Is it in the famous manifesto?
The Deputy recalls in great detail and to his cost, as does the other Deputy, the details of the manifesto. Before I was interrupted by Deputy Collins, Deputy Horgan asked did I remember accepting a motion about grants. I remember that quite clearly and I have delivered on it as the Deputy knows.
The Minister has not delivered on eligibility.
In private the Deputy admitted to me he was surprised I did so well. With regard to the eligibility limits——
That is the big one, the one the Minister ducked.
——I am sure the Deputy knows that well-known paper, The Anglo Celt, we publish every week in Cavan. All good citizens should read it. He will recall that on 27 May 1977 a general election was announced in that paper and, on the same date, it was announced that the eligibility limits would be increased. I had been pushing for that increase even by way of motion which I failed to get Labour Deputies to support in this House. The eligibility limits were increased since February and I am the first to pay on the increased eligibility limits, which things having been said, as Julius Caesar might say, I am having another look at the eligibility limits——
The Minister knows what happened to Julius Caesar.
He conquered Gaul, all three parts of it. There are still wild Celts around. We are examining the position and, in the true traditions of this party, taking all the other demands on our purse into consideration, we hope to raise the eligibility limits.
Can we take it that when they are revised they will be revised to the extent the Minister suggested in the Dáil in February 1977?
I pointed out that over a period of 100 per cent inflation there was no concession whatsoever on eligibility limits.
I asked the Minister to tell the House what he said.
What was published in May 1977 made an inroad into that 100 per cent and it is my hope to make a further inroad into that 100 per cent.
What about February 1977 in this House?
Order. The Deputy is asking questions which are not relevant.
I am not getting answers.
I am willing to answer all supplementaries, provided they are stated clearly.
Would the Minister not agree that it is flying in the face of the very plain English contained in the manifesto to ask people to accept that an increase which was decreed and which could not conceivably be renegéd upon by the new administration is not paid? It does not do duty for one of the major elements in that manifesto.
That is not relevant to the question on the Order Paper.
If the Chair permits me to answer that question I will.
Would the Minister not agree also that the reason he delayed announcing an increase in the cash limits for the grants until the term had begun was that he could then advance the excuse that he could not raise the eligibility limit in the middle of the academic year?
Those questions are not relevant. I wish to make it clear that, while I appear to be too liberal, I want to put a stop to the habit of Deputies getting to their feet and asking three or four supplementaries at the one time.
It is done to save time.
Deputies wishing to ask supplementaries should put one question at a time to the Minister and they should be as brief as possible. If that is done we will make more progress for the benefit of the other Deputies seeking information on the 350 questions on the Order Paper.
I should like to inform the Deputy that from a base of £300 I increased the grants to £500. A mangy £50 was mentioned in the budget but never paid for by the previous administration. The eligibility limit announcement was made under pressure from me and under pressure of the approach of that fateful day when the present Opposition had to meet people. This is being paid for by me for the first time and I am having a look at the eligibility limit situation. I hope, with the agreement of the Government and the wealth we hope to create, to improve the situation in the near future.