Mayor slams grants ‘cock-up’

The Mayor of Clare has labeled as “a cock up” the current delays in administering student maintenance grants.

Almost 1,500 students out of the 1,698 from County Clare who applied for a maintenance grant are still waiting for their grants to be processed, it emerged this week.
Education Minister Ruairí Quinn confirmed that just 20% of the 1,698 student grant applicants from

 

Clare received a reply from the department following parliamentary questions from Fianna Fáil. That means that 80% of Clare students who applied for a grant are still waiting for their applications to be processed.

Nationally, over 50,000 applications still haven’t been decided on. Clare Fianna Fáil TD Timmy Dooley has demanded action from the Education Minister while the Mayor of Clare, Pat Daly, has expressed his anger at the situation and called for the Minister to return grant administration powers to the local authority and to the VEC.

“The government took this responsibility from Clare County Council and the VEC here. I am saying that this should not have happened and it definitely should not happen again next year and things should go back to the way they were.

“They have made a cock up of it and the people who are suffering are the students and parents.

“I have had parents and students into me and they are raging at having to wait for their maintenance money. They are just about surviving and they have no money. They banks are not lending and where does that leave people?” he asked.

Councillor Daly said those waiting on their grants are “under severe pressure because the cost of staying in whatever city they are studying in with rent and food and everything. It is stretching most of these families and it is a financial burden to the parent and students”.

Deputy Timmy Dooley described the situation as unacceptable and has called for an urgent explanation from Minister Quinn.

“It is clear that the new centralised grant application system (SUSI) is riddled with problems. Minister Quinn launched this system amid great fanfare in June saying the process will be ‘quick and easy’ and it will stop students waiting for ‘lengthy periods of time and facing undue hardship as a result of delays’.

However, the reality for students is far from what was promised,” said Deputy Dooley. “As we head into the Christmas period there are almost 1,500 students from Clare, and tens of thousands across the country, who are still waiting for their grants to be processed by this ‘quick and easy’ system.

“For many of them, the delays are preventing them from registering fully at college and accessing library and computer services. Some have been asked to pay the €2,250 third-level registration fee up front until their grants come through.

“Others who are in receipt of the Back to Education allowance have been issued letters saying they were to be cut off by last week unless they could show proof of college registration, which they are prevented from doing until they receive their grant. The delays are hitting the most hard-pressed students in Clare and across the country. These are students who, because of their personal situation, need state support to go to college. It is disgraceful that it is now November and so many of them still have no idea when and if they will receive their grant.

“Minister Quinn was quick to accept praise when this new system launched but now that the grant application system is in crisis, he is nowhere to be seen. Students deserve an explanation from the minister and some assurance about what is being done to rectify the situation,” said Deputy Dooley.

Fianna Fáil is calling on the Government to stop any plans to increase third-level fees next year, to provide extra staff to deal with delays in processing grant applications, reinstate guidance counsellor provision at second level and to ensure that all children who require Special Needs Assistants are provided with them.

“The minister has effectively apologised and said this wasn’t good enough and that they are going to try to resolve it. But that is no response for people finding it difficult to stay in college and if the grants are not processed soon, some students will have left college or have had to defer for a year. That is wholly inappropriate.

“The biggest issue is that in normal times, the banks would be lending and proving overdraft facilities to students but that is not happening so literally some students are left not being able to afford to pay rent and in a position where they can’t afford to be anywhere except at home. It is an indictment of this Government’s commitment to education,” Deputy Dooley stated.

The Department of Education had not responded to a request for comment at the time of going to press.