Means test may include farm assets

Education Minister Ruairi Quinn is determined to means test farmers and the self-employed for college grants.

The plan could impact on thousands of students if any new assessment system includes productive assets such as farmland or machinery.

Mr Quinn made his comments yesterday at Calasanctius College in Oranmore, Co Galway, where he met students picking up their exam results. He said a report on making the grant system “more fair” was to be completed by his department in September.