Clare County Council has sent letters to 3rd-level grant applicants asking them to submit proof that they have paid the household charge.
The Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin says it is unfair and possibly illegal for the Council to withhold grants from students who have not paid the household charge.
While Education Minister Ruairi Quinn says the actions of the Council are reasonable.
In a statement the Council says processing Higher Education Grants is done at a cost and the household charge was introduced to cover the cost of providing local services such as assessing and processing grants.
What do you think of the Council’s approach?
style="color: #ff0000;">Your say on Newstalk Facebook:
href="https://www.facebook.com/rorybyrnelike">Rory Byrne Dirty tricks.
href="https://www.facebook.com/niamh.obrien">Niamh O’Brien I think its insulting that people are being held to ransom with an unjust tax… If this is the case, I will be withholding my motor tax until all the pot holes are fixed in Clare. Fair deal no?
href="https://www.facebook.com/ceganfeely">Connie Egan-Feely Not fair, sly, dirty tricks is right, held to ransom! All the above!
href="https://www.facebook.com/louisefinneg">Louise Finnegan disgrace the grant is given to the students personally not their parents
href="https://www.facebook.com/damien.donoghue">ДÐМИÐРДОÐОГХУРI’ve been gone from Ireland just 6 months and I get lonelier by the month but when I see time after time the country is being screwed up like it is , I just won’t be coming home…
href="https://www.facebook.com/loumacs">Lou Mac I think it only fair to those who coughed up the HHC that those looking for grants do likewise. Otherwise there’s always someone else paying your bills on top of their own. No one wants to pay anything but we all MUST share the burden. Anything else is unjust.
href="https://www.facebook.com/lisa.farrelly.9">Lisa Farrelly The student is not a child anymore after 18 yrs. This is a bigger issue that an adult still has to get anything based on their parent’s income. Ridiculous. The principles of the parents of the adult student are not necessarily the same as the adult student and therefore this should not arise in the first instance.
href="https://www.facebook.com/damien.donoghue">ДÐМИÐРДОÐОГХУРWhy is it also that there isn’t any uprising of any meaning, everybody is always complaining but never is there any action…
href="https://www.facebook.com/denisjmurphy">Denis Murphy Its a dictatorship we have n this country ,
href="https://www.facebook.com/austindcom">Austin O’Meara Students should not be punished if their parents have not paid. This is blackmail
href="https://www.facebook.com/alexmurray1981">Alex Murray Blackmail, extortion come to mind!
href="https://www.facebook.com/winstontosser">Sean Kelly That is scummy
href="https://www.facebook.com/stephen.cowan.792">Stephen Cowan The first casualty of war is the innocent. Clare CC has declared war on its young people. Students who are not liable to pay the tax as most are not home owners will be the victims of this decision.
The people of Clare will be waiting in the long grass for the local elections in 2014 and they will remember this decision.
href="https://www.facebook.com/austindcom">Austin O’Meara You can only beat a dog for so long before it bites back…
href="https://www.facebook.com/thomas.curran.52">Thomas Curran How dare they ask for proof that people and or their families are tax compliant before handing over tax payers money in the form of a grant….hmmm….wait a minute……
href="https://www.facebook.com/brianof">Brian O’Flaherty Asking someone who probably isn’t a deed holder on a property whether they’ve paid a tax they don’t have to pay. I think it’s a dirty trick quite frankly and I wonder if it could be challenged that they’re asking at all.
href="https://www.facebook.com/david.mullin.12">David Mullin Disgraceful!
href="https://www.facebook.com/patrick.fitzpatrick.988">Patrick Fitzpatrick I have been living away from Ireland for many years but I keep a close eye on the goings on regularly. While I don’t have an issue with the Household tax (in the UK I pay over £1000 per year) I have an issue with the process being used to enforce payment. It wasn’t long ago that Enda Kenny was completely opposed to a household tax (when he was in opposition). What the Council are doing on behalf of Kenny and Co is immoral and unjust, they had stated previously that those who did not pay the household tax would be taken to court — therefore they should stick be this process and not try to sabotage Student living and/or education. The comment made by Lou Mac – we MUST all share the burden — I ask what burden? Do you mean the burden that every tax payer is paying bank bond holders? To share a burden all must be equal – but all is not equal in Ireland – very much far from it. Ireland problems stem from bad management from the Banks, Construction industry and the Government — the burden is being left at the door step of the tax payers, it is time for the people of Ireland to stop the incompetent government and their departments from destroying what is left and say NO MORE. The Government and Councils are supposed to be working for you — you need to make sure that they realise this!!
href="https://www.facebook.com/oisin.ocallaghan.12">Óisín O’Callaghan So does this mean that not only will the household property tax resurface all my local roads and assist with the running of local amenities but it will now also contribute to the paying of a student’s maintenance grant? A simply outlandish and ludicrous move by Clare CC. A student’s name is not on the deed to a house. This could be a questionable act of Ultra Vires within the Clare CC. Ridiculous!
href="https://www.facebook.com/austindcom">Austin O’Meara Thomas do you really think that it’s fair that students are being asked if their parents have paid a tax legally your parents money issues have no bearing on you also the cost of collage is huge without this grant what do these people do. Get a job? Not an easy thing to do at the moment. Any other options? Social welfare that’s just more tax payers money..
href="https://www.facebook.com/kennram">Kenn Davis Seeing that the local county councils are in financial hot water it is solutions we need not complaints. For too long people sit back and expect things to be done and thought out for us. The fact of the matter (regardless of whose fault it is in the first place) is that local authorities are pretty tight for cash. So its time we sat down and instead of complaining from our couches, thought about what we could actually do to help matters. So let’s begin some thought experiments. I read recently of an entrepreneur who set up a lotto system that pays out winnings to local communities as opposed to individuals. Would it be possible to set up such a system here and use the monies for local services etc? Its time we stepped away from individualisation and begin to think collectively. We’re sailing in the same boat after all :)
href="https://www.facebook.com/mariebwallis">Marie Wallis Come after the adults all you like but leave the children out of it. These are only the pre-boom years after all. At least let us have an educated youth at the end of this recession.
href="https://www.facebook.com/dkirrane">David Kirrane Yup. All the damage was done during the FF led Celtic Tiger and oh are we paying for it now. Personally, I will never vote for any politician under the FF banner ever again so the sooner they disband and start a new party the better for them. Clare Co Council seem to be one of the better councils in the country as I was in one housing estate on Friday that was abandoned by a builder and they had spent at least 50K surfacing the road there and I was amazed that they had money to do it in a small village. We need a fair property tax to provide for the areas we live in and of course anyone who paid a load of stamp duty should get an exemption for a period of years. My van broke down last week because I did not service it in the last year and now I am paying more to fix it. Flip it!
href="https://www.facebook.com/daniel.seavers">Daniel Seavers Complete blackmail they are opening a pandora’s box here. So in future the children of people who break the law will be held accountable for their parent’s actions?
href="https://www.facebook.com/patrick.fitzpatrick.988">Patrick Fitzpatrick @Kenn Davis – I agree with everything you say, unfortunately there is a slight ‘but’ – leadership for the problems in Ireland must come from the top and to get communities acting for themselves and each other comes with knowing that the government are there to protect the people and the communities. People will continue to moan because that is what day to day live has become for 4 years now. The Irish government are oppressing any positive action by not being proactive for the communities. The Irish government are only interesting is satisfying the EU/IMF otherwise, they would have followed Iceland’s lead and be back on the feet already!!! I don’t think people would have a problem with additional taxes if: 1) there was growth injection and a ‘real’ stimulus plan for Ireland; 2) if their taxes were not going to bond holders who made bad investments; 3) if Ireland were in control of the Financial Budget – clearly EU/IMF are. Until there is a significant positive change in Ireland towards its people and communities by the government – then there will be no change in attitude form the Irish people other than the anger growing of course!!
href="https://www.facebook.com/cherill.munday">Cherill Munday I thought students applied for their grant not the parents…..students are not necessarily aware whether their parents have paid or not…..and if it is a case the parents cannot afford to pay….will the student be penalized in any way… bully-boy tactics??? Again….
href="https://www.facebook.com/mike.rowan.14">Mike Rowan No one wants to have to pay the household charge but where else are the government supposed to get the money to pay for things like grants?? If you want public services, taxes need to be collected. People here seem to think “somebody else should have to pay”
href="https://www.facebook.com/niamh.obrien">Niamh O’Brien Mike, we have just paid € 1.5 billion to unsecured bondholders in AIB today. This is a 3rd of the proposed cuts in the Budget this year. This money is needed to fund public services, not crippled parents trying to send kids to college.
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