Vol. 396 No. 8
47 Mr. Noonan (Limerick East) asked the Minister for Education the reason a higher education grant was not awarded to a person (details supplied) in County Limerick; the basis on which the assessment of his parents' income was made; and the reason repayments on a mortgage based on the family home to enable his father to pay business debts was not taken into account in the assessment.
Under the terms of the higher education grants scheme the reckonable income to be determined for the purposes of the award of a grant is gross income from all sources of the candidate and his/her parents, less any sum paid by way of contribution to a superannuation fund, and excluding also children's allowances under the Social Welfare Acts, holiday earnings, if any, of the candidate and payments under the family income supplement scheme.
In the case of self-employed persons, when reckoning expenses which may be taken into account as expenses incurred in earning profits no amount may be included in respect of mortgage repayments. PAYE taxpayers are similarly affected.
In accordance with the means test tables in the scheme for 1989, the income limit in order to qualify for the minimum rate of grant with three dependent children in the family is £14,480. As it is understood from Limerick County Council, the body administering the grants scheme in this applicant's area, that the reckonable income in his case exceeds that figure, I regret that he does not qualify for a grant.
