Beverley Flynn
Ceist:881 Ms Cooper-Flynn asked the Minister for Education and Science the reason a leaving certificate student (details supplied) in County Mayo who won a scholarship never received his certificate or gold medal. [24269/00]
Written Answers. - Scholarship Award.
I understand that the scholarship in question is one of the Easter week commemoration scholarships. These prestigious awards have been in existence since 1966 and only seven scholarships are awarded annually. One scholarship is awarded for each of the signatories of the 1916 Proclamation of Independence.
The person in question was awarded his Easter week scholarship in 1995. However, the practice of issuing certificates and medals to the successful students, usually at a formal presentation ceremony, was not introduced until 1996. Accordingly, the issuing of a certificate and medal to the person in question, and other award winners prior to 1996, does not arise.
Easter week commemoration scholarship winners are funded in respect of fees, where applicable, and maintenance to pursue one undergraduate and one postgraduate course as approved under the terms of the scholarship scheme.
I recently announced a doubling in the value of the Easter week commemoration scholarships in order to give greater recognition to the achievement of the students who, through their performance in the leaving certificate examination, are awarded these scholarships.
The increase, which is effective for all scholarship holders from the 1999/2000 academic year, means that the higher non-adjacent rate of the scholarship increases from £1,740 to £3,500 and the adjacent rate increases from £726 to £1,500. For the 2000/01 academic year, the rates will attract the 5% increase applied to the third level maintenance grants and, accordingly, the non-adjacent and adjacent rates have increased to £3,675 and £1,575 respectively.