The performance of the Education Minister Ruairi Quinn in dealing with the controversy over the processing of grant applications has been described as "abysmal" by Fianna Fáil.

Additional staff have had to be brought in as fewer than 700 students have been paid their grants so far by the new agency which Education Minster Ruairi Quinn had said would speed up the application process.

The incoming bosses of the boards replacing vocational education committees (VEC) have been selected and have started to plan next year’s changeover.