Has there been a secret statutory instrument to give county councils the right to threaten students seeking third level grants over whether their parents have paid the household tax? I ask this because the Minister for Education and Skills scandalously, and quite disgracefully, championed this bullying of students instead of championing the right of students to their education. Has the Minister been reprimanded for his encouragement of this bullying of students by Clare County Council?

The Minister for Education and Skills was very clear. Clare County Council, on its own initiative, must process applications for third level grants.

It is not on its own initiative.

It is quite in order for the council to seek to find out if households which have lodged applications for assistance in respect of third level education are in compliance with the legal requirement to pay the household charge.

There is no legal requirement.

There is no legal basis for the council's action.

It is outrageous.

The same applies if a disabled person applies for a grant to build a back kitchen and must produce a C2 certificate.

That is a house application.

That is quite different.

Questions are always asked about the payment of the non-principal private residence charge. This is nothing new.

What has that do to with students?

Deputy Higgins might not like this but it is unfair to the majority of people who have paid the charge to suggest that others should not make the effort to do so.

The Government has the means to deal with non-payment.

Clare County Council, on its own initiative, is entirely in order in doing what it has done

Some 50% of people have not paid the tax.

Deputy Higgins wants to have everything and pay for nothing.

Deputies, there are other ways of raising this issue. It is not in order to discuss it on the Order of Business.

I do not want to be disorderly, a Leas-Cheann Comhairle, but it is appropriate on the Order of Business to ask if there is a legal basis for the county council demand. Unless some statutory instrument has been laid by the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, there is no legal basis for it. The Taoiseach has confirmed there is not. In that case, neither the House nor the Government should condone any agency engaging in behaviour that has no legal basis, irrespective of our views on things. We should not condone that.

Clare County Council is processing applications for third level grants. The council wrote to applicants to identify whether their households had paid the household charge. It is a legal charge.

There is no secret statutory instrument that has a legal basis for the collection of it. This was a voluntary payment and a significant majority of people have paid the household charge. There is a legal requirement to do it. The county council is entitled to ask applicants for further assistance and will pay third level grants if those households have paid the charge. That would be in order. There would be no legal basis to say we can force a person to do this because Clare County Council has pointed out it does not want to see any further delays in the processing of applications.

Could this be dealt with in some other way?

It should be pointed out that it is only fair that everyone pays the household charge because it is used for facilities like processing applications for third level grants.

Did Deputy Dooley pay the household charge?