A GROUP examining whether capital assets such as farms should be included in the means tests for third-level student grants will not report back to Minister for Education Ruairí Quinn until September.
The Department of Education said yesterday that no proposals or recommendations have been made by the Capital Asset Implementation Group and indicated it was premature for a public debate on a decision that had not yet been made.
“No decision has been taken on the treatment of farm or other business assets and any proposals arising from the group’s recommendations will require further Government agreement and will also necessitate legislative amendment,” a spokeswoman said yesterday.
As many as a dozen TDs and senators, mainly from Fine Gael and also from Fianna Fáil, have said they are opposed to farms being included in the means test for student grants to third-level institutions.
Their opposition is based on comments earlier this year by Mr Quinn that he would like to broaden the means test to include capital assets in addition to income. He argued this would create a more equitable basis for testing.
While parents who are self-employed would find themselves subject to such tests, the two main farming organisations, the IFA and the ICMSA, have contended that it would be farmers who would be most affected.
They have argued that farm families with very low incomes could find themselves being deprived of grants on the basis that the value of land had taken them over the threshold.
In the past few days a large number of Fine Gael TDs, including Michael Creed, John O’Mahoney, Michelle Mulherin, Patrick O’Donovan, Pat Deering, Tom Hayes and Andrew Doyle, have said farmland should be excluded from the measures.
Yesterday Fianna Fáil agriculture spokesman Éamon Ó Cuív and Donegal North East TD Charlie McConalogue also came out against it.
Mr McConalogue called on Mr Quinn to clarify the situation and to assuage the concerns of farming families.
“We have heard nothing since May and the minister’s silence on this is deafening,” he said. “His refusal to comment is leading self-employed and farming families to the logical conclusion that he has determined to go down this road.
“He needs to immediately clarify what his intentions are. The college year is due to get under way very soon and students deserve to have the reassurance that they will not end up losing the grant,” said Mr McConalogue.
