Yesterday Clare County Council confirmed it is demanding that a student's parents pay the household charge before a student's grant application will be processed. Other councils have said they are preparing to follow suit. Yesterday the Taoiseach seemed to be supporting this action and the Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy Quinn, described it as reasonable.

Ba mhaith liom barúil an Taoisigh air seo a chlos. Sílim go bhfuil an t-Aire Oideachais agus Scileanna mícheart. Is í seo an chaoi lena dhéanamh cinnte go bhfuil seansanna ag daoine óga don todhchaí. Seo an t-am chun dóchas a thabhairt do ógánaigh na tíre. Muna gcuirimid iallach air seo, mar pholaiteoirí agus mar shaoránaigh, beidh fadhbanna ann. Caithfidh an Taoiseach a bheith go han-soléir faoi seo

Surely we should be encouraging young people to go on to third level education and that the Minister for Education and Skills should ensure students have access to education, in particular those who need grants because invariably if one needs a grant, it means one is from a lower or middle income family. Does the Taoiseach support this action? Can he be clear about it today? There are even some reports of councils planning to link the payment of grants to the disabled to the payment of the household charge. Are the disabled to be the targets of Government cuts once again?

Has the Taoiseach taken legal advice on this issue and does he support the withholding of public services and public grants from the children of citizens who may not be paying the household charge? Will the Government instruct Clare County Council and others planning similar actions to stop? Will the Taoiseach make it clear that the Government supports the rights of students to the grants to which they are entitled without reference to what their parents may or may not be doing?

I would have assumed that as an elected public representative to this House where he has influence on legislation that Deputy Adams would be encouraging people to pay what is a legal charge. There have been 1,045,000 registrations to date with a compliance rate of more than 65%. As the Deputy is well aware, the household charge and its successor are designed to fund local services provided by local authorities for people in their areas. Section 12 of the Act places the collection of the charge under the responsibility and management of local authorities and it is therefore a matter for each county council or local authority to utilise the provisions in the legislation in the context of identifying any undeclared properties. It is also a matter for local authorities to use their local knowledge and their judgment in what they do about this.

Clare County Council made its own decision here. It took the decision to issue letters in regard to the disbursal of the higher education grant for this year asking applicants to indicate if the household charge had been paid in respect of the relevant household. That was in addition to questions normally asked by councils on a routine basis about the payment of other charges, including the non-principal private residence charge, water rates and commercial rates, as is appropriate and as apply. The household charge question was added in order to facilitate Clare County Council's information gathering about who has actually complied with the requirement to pay the household charge. I understand Clare County Council also felt it appropriate to emphasise that the household charge is funding local services and local facilities for people in County Clare. As the Deputy is aware, it is unfair that one's neighbour can say he or she paid his or her charge but that one did not and one thinks one can get away with it.

Section 7 of the Local Government Act 1983 provides that where a sum is due to a local authority under any enactment and at the same time another sum is due by the authority to a person, the former sum may be set against the latter but I can confirm to the Deputy that no moneys have been withheld by Clare County Council in respect of higher education grants. It is entirely appropriate that as public moneys fund the processing of these applications, the local authority is entitled to find out whether persons have paid the household charge.

I am very disappointed with the Taoiseach's answer. He should have taken the opportunity to clarify the issue. He knows better than I, because he is around longer, that the county councils do not provide the funding for higher education grants. In no way should the child of a household be penalised for what the household may or may not be doing.

I had a very quiet word with the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government earlier this morning. He was clearer on the limits of the power of local councils on this issue and on the rights of the students than the Taoiseach has been. It is reprehensible that the instinct of this Government, including its Labour Party component-----

A question, please.

-----is to support these actions which clearly discriminate against lower and middle income students who need grants to get them into further education. All of this is as a result of the mess the Government and the Minister the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Hogan, have made of this household charge.

Will the Taoiseach revise his answer and tell us that he will uphold the rights of students to access third level education? Where does one draw the line? Will families be refused child benefit? Will people with disabilities, the elderly and fuel allowances be targeted? Will the Taoiseach take this opportunity to quieten fears and be clear that this Government upholds the rights of citizens?

I can. I listened to some of Deputy Adams's wild and wonderful and weird economic theories as he was debating with Deputy Martin last night. That is what would put the fear of God into people - when they hear the kind of codswallop the Deputy came out with yesterday evening. I do not think the Deputy suffers from amnesia. People in his former constituency were paying €1,400 in charges every year.

I support completely the right of every child to have the opportunity to go to school, college and university. As I said to the Deputy, while the Act of 1983 confers the powers it does on a local authority, that is only in regard to a specific charge that is due by a specific person in a local authority area. The county council in this case cannot be entitled to withhold a partial element of the grant that is due.

Tell that to Clare County Council.

Why do it then?

However, they are entitled to say that Deputy Adams's taxes - I do not know whether he paid the household charge - go in part to fund the persons who process the applications for the third level grants.

Are they wasting money on issuing receipts? Was that in the Croke Park agreement?

The local authority, which has responsibility for the household charge under the Act, is entitled to know, in so far as it can, the numbers who have paid the charge or who have yet to pay it-----

Receipts.

Did they forget to issue a receipt in the first place?

-----because the money goes on facilities and provisions in local authority areas. Clare County Council is not entitled by law to reduce or withhold a portion of the third level grant but as a matter of course it is entitled to as much information about the numbers who have paid the household charge as is required in law.

It has the receipts.

I support - as we all do - the right of young people to attend college in this country but Clare County Council and every other county council should be active in having the percentage of those who have not paid the household charge increased so they can publish what they are going to do with that money in terms of facilities and provisions for the people who live in their areas.