USI welcomes call for reform of grant system

The Union of Students in Ireland has welcomed a report calling for reform of the grant system for students.

The Department of Education report said the means test for students applying for grants should be reformed to take account of assets belonging to the student's family.

This would mean that farmers with large land holdings and other well-off families would not be entitled to secure grants for their children.

The Labour Party, however, said the proposals in the government report were nothing new.

Spokesperson Jan O'Sullivan said: "These recommendations have been made previously.

"Minister Micheál Martin, back in 1997, said that he was going to implement recommendations just like this, that he was going to centralise the assessment of means for third-level grants and he suggested the Department of Social, Community and Family Affairs would be the government department that would do it.

"Now that's exactly what's being proposed at the moment. We want to see action now rather than talk about the suggestion."