-----to ask for clarification of something the Taoiseach said earlier. If I heard him correctly, he said local authorities do not have the authority to refuse to pay a higher education grant on the basis the household charge has not been paid.

We cannot go back over that.

Am I correct in that interpretation?

In law since 1983, where a charge is due from a person in a specific instance, the local authority is empowered to withhold another payment in respect of that if it wishes. Local authorities, however, are not entitled to withhold an element of the third level grant. What Clare County Council did was acquire information as part of processing the application form for a third level grant as to whether the householders involved had actually paid the household charge. It is not entitled by law to withhold any of the grant.

We cannot debate this, it was discussed on Leaders' Questions.

Surely the council would know from the receipts if someone had paid or not.

The Deputy should ask a parliamentary question.

If someone has not paid there is no receipt.

Then the county council should know the charge has not been paid.

A lot of these questions are asked routinely about the non-principal private residence charge, water charges, commercial rates and so on.