I welcome the Minister of State to the House to take this important matter, namely, the need for the Minister for Education and Science to clarify the position regarding the inequity of charging fees of more than €6,000 for a student repeating a college year, with the allied loss of third level grant provision, in circumstances where she is relying for funding on a widowed parent whose sole income is disability benefit and who cannot afford such an excessive outlay, and to outline how, under natural justice, such a punitive measure can be enforced.
What can the Minister of State say to me about a system that gives free fees to students whose parents can hypothetically afford a private jet, a large yacht, two or three houses, here and abroad, and a holiday to the most exotic places on earth while a student who relies on a widowed mother, whose sole income is disability benefit of approximately €170 per week, is expected to pay more than €6,000 to register for a repeat first year in university as well as losing her maintenance grant? The student's only fault was that she had made the wrong course choice last year but was dutiful enough to finish the year and pass her exams. Had she known that her application to her work was to cost her and her mother so dearly, she would have taken the easy option and dropped out. However, she did not do that. She is a hard-working girl who has mistakenly learned to finish what she started. The upshot is that she has not been able to register for her new course. She is in no-man's land in regard to her future educational prospects.
I realise that according to the Department of Education and Science guidelines, each student is entitled to only one year's free fees for each year of study. If students wish to repeat a year, they must pay the fees in full. Following on from the loss of free fees, the maintenance grant is also removed for the year in question. This is where we must begin to question the system. Such a black and white ruling leaves no grey areas and cases of extreme want are ignored. The Minister should examine cases such as this.
To return to the concept of natural justice, no student should be so harshly penalised for making an honest mistake. If this student had failed her exams and was not serious, I could understand that it would be impossible to do anything to help her. However, this student's only problem is financial and unbelievable pressure is being put on her and her widowed mother who is ill and unable to work. Dickens would have been shocked at such Scrooge-like treatment of an honest and deserving case.
The student's mother was widowed at an early age, her husband having died suddenly left her with a young family. To be caught in an unbending system must be the ultimate nightmare for any parent. I plead with the Minister on behalf of this young student and her mother, and other students in similar positions, to put in place a facility to accommodate them in their third level education. This happened through no fault of the student. There are huge anomalies in the system given that fees are paid to students whose parents have yachts and three or four homes, here and abroad, while a widow cannot be accommodated in respect of fees for her daughter. I plead with the Minister to intervene and ensure that cases such as this are dealt with in a compassionate and humane manner at a time of plenty and much wastage in other areas.
We have seen what has happened with PPARS and electronic voting, where millions of euro of taxpayers' money has been wasted, while the education of an innocent girl cannot be looked after by the State. There is something wrong with a society that allows that to continue. I plead with the Minister to deal urgently with this matter.
