Parents and students are facing delays of weeks and even months in receiving grant payments due to the failure to introduce promised legislation, it was claimed yesterday.
Fine Gael spokeswoman on education Olwyn Enright TD said Minister for Education Mary Hanafin had committed herself to moving the payment of grants from local authorities to vocational education committees (VECs) last year.
"It was widely believed that this would be completed before the current academic year," she said. "It only became apparent at the last minute that there would be no change in the administration of grants.
"The Department of Education is yet again proving very slow in providing local authorities and VECs with this information."
Fianna Fáil had committed itself to passing the Student Support Services Bill but had "reneged" on this commitment, Ms Enright said. "As a result, thousands of parents and students face the prospect of going to college with empty pockets, unable to pay deposits on accommodation."
A spokeswoman for the department said the purpose of the proposed Bill was to provide a "statutory framework for coherent administration of a single unified scheme of student maintenance grants".
"The Minister expects to be in a position to publish the Bill in the autumn session. This will not delay the grant schemes for the coming academic year."