Cork has biggest backlog of grant applications in country

HUNDREDS of third-level students are still awaiting a decision on grant support applications from a number of local authorities throughout Munster.

In Cork county alone, a quarter of third-level grant applications have yet to receive a decision from the county council because of outstanding documentation.

Figures from the local authority show that, with the end of the college year just weeks away, 354 grant applications have not yet been finalised. The backlog is understood to be the largest of any local authority in the country, although a council spokesman stressed he delay in making a decision on the outstanding applications was because they were incomplete and had to be referred back to applicants seeking additional documentation.