PLC students now eligible to apply for maintenance grants

Maintenance grants for Post Leaving Cert students, similar to the means-tested support for third-level students, were announced yesterday by the Minister for Education. He also announced an extra 1,100 places on tele-services training courses.

Mr Martin said employment in the tele-services sector was expected to grow from 6,000 jobs to 12,000 by 2000. The extra 1,100 places would bring to almost 1,550 the number of places on the two-year international tele-services course available in 35 Post Leaving Cert colleges, he said yesterday.

Mr Martin also announced the extension of the maintenance grants scheme to Post Leaving Cert colleges. The means-tested grants of £2,000 could cost the Exchequer about £17 million, he said. The tele-services courses were designed to equip school-leavers or those preparing to return to the workplace with the skills to meet a growing jobs market, Mr Martin said at the announcement of both schemes at the College of Commerce in Cork.

"This initiative forms part of a wider programme which the Government has put in place since taking office to ensure that Ireland is in a position to meet the emerging skill needs of certain rapidly expanding industries," he said.

Tele-services was the fastest-growing sector in Ireland, with some leading names in the sector choosing to locate here. Mr Martin said typical starting salaries were £11,000-£14,000. The courses were designed to provide PLC students with information technology skills and a fluency in German, French, Spanish or Italian. They included a £2,000 grant-aided 17-week placement overseas. and those who qualified for that grant would also be eligible to apply for the means-tested PLC £2,000 maintenance grant. Students should apply through their local VEC before October 16th.

Mr Martin said PLC students had been discriminated against compared to other third-level students, but this new maintenance grant would rectify that. Although the grants would not be paid until December/January, they would be backdated to September.

Mr Martin also said he planned to examine the possibility of introducing Japanese as a secondary school subject on a pilot basis in a small number of schools. Incentives would be available to the schools involved, he said.

He rejected claims that thousands of Leaving Cert students were panicking after being offered courses about which they knew nothing. "I don't accept there are thousands panicking. There may be some, but most students are satisfied," he said.