Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Tuesday, 18 Dec 1990

Vol. 404 No. 1

Written Answers. - Higher Education Grants.

Eamon Gilmore

Ceist:

232 Mr. Gilmore asked the Minister for Education if she will outline for each year, since the introduction of the higher education grant schemes (a) the maximum maintenance element of the grant for a student living away from home (b) the total expenditure in higher education grants in each year and (c) the total number of students in receipt of higher education grants in each year.

Minister for Education (Mrs. O'Rourke)

The statistical information requested by the Deputy, in so far as it is available, is set out in the following tabular statements.

Table (a)

Maximum non-adjacent rate of maintenance

	£
1968	300†
1969	300†
1970	300†
1971	300†
1972	300†
1973	250
1974	300
1975	300
1976	300
1977	350
1978	500
1979	600
1980	600
1981	1,000
1982	1,000
1983	1,000
1984	1,000
1985	1,160
1986	1,213
1987	1,255
1988	1,280
1989	1,318
1990	1,373

†denotes composite fee and maintenance.

Table (b)

Expenditure for Year Ended (Extract from Appropriation Accounts)

		£
March	1970	198,351
March	1971	470,432
March	1972	683,465
March	1973	850,070
March	1974	1,173,928
April to December	1974	1,309,803
December	1975	1,111,820
December	1976	2,093,762
December	1977	2,145,155
December	1978	2,567,454
December	1979	3,067,323
December	1980	3,309,320
December	1981	3,421,629
December	1982	5,490,045
December	1983	8,557,460
December	1984	11,345,553
December	1985	13,599,036
December	1986	16,459,008
December	1987	19,716,919
December	1988	23,120,988
December	1989	25,675,832
December	1990	27,212,000

Table (c)

1967-1968	972
1968-1969	1,233
1969-1970	2,348
1970-1971	3,562
1971-1972	4,633
1972-1973	4,954
1973-1974	5,454
1974-1975	5,942
1975-1976	6,168
1976-1977	6,108
1977-1978	5,848
1978-1979	5,541
1979-1980	5,219
1980-1981	5,021
1981-1982	6,263
1982-1983	7,334
1983-1984	8,393
1984-1985	9,013
1985-1986	10,139
1986-1987	11,350
1987-1988	12,178
1988-1989	13,036
1989-1990	13,500†

†Estimated.