Labour and Fine Gael at odds over college grants

Farmers and self-employed people can “manipulate their income” so that their children are eligible for college grants, Labour Party chairman Colm Keaveney has claimed.

Fine Gael TDs disagreed with this claim as they vowed to oppose any attempts to include productive assets, such as farmland, in means tests for grants.

Education Minister Ruairi Quinn is reviewing the system, which awards grants based on parents’ income and does not take into account assets, such as farmland or businesses.