Both the TUI and the National Parents Council-Post Primary are calling on the Minister for Education, Micheal Martin, to set a date for the introduction of maintenance grants for students taking Post Leaving Cert courses. Department figures show that in the academic year 1996/7 almost 19,000 students were attending PLC courses.

"We are concerned", says TUI president Alice Prendergast. "No date has been set by the Minister for the introduction of maintenance grants for PLC students. Further delay is unacceptable." Last week Martin told the Dail that it would cost £13 million annually to provide a means-tested maintenance grant scheme for PLC students.

The implementation of the Government's commitment to provide support for the students, outlined in the Programme for Government, and the exact timing of the introduction of a scheme, is being examined, he said.

According to John White, PRO of the National Parents Council-Post Primary, the fact that PLC students are still ineligible for maintenance grants, is causing considerable hardship. Students living outside major towns and cities are the worst affected because they are often forced to move away from home, he says. Many students are deterred from signing on for PLC courses because their parents can't afford accommodation costs.

"The way to take the pressure off the points system is to expand the PLC sector," White argues. `It's defeating the purpose of the Leaving Cert Applied, which was introduced as a means of keeping young people in the education system, if they can't go on to do PLCs because they lack the money." The Minister needs to introduce PLC grants immediately if they are going to be available for next year, he says.