Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I will now move on to the issue of Student Universal Support Ireland, SUSI. As everyone is aware, SUSI was launched by the Minister for Education and Skills last year and was designed to centralise grant application processes for new entrants to third level and it is the intention to expand that to existing third level students next year. It would be fair to say that for many Members, the people they represent, and for many other people, the experience with SUSI over the past few months has been an unmitigated nightmare. I can understand entirely the reason the Minister and the Department would try to rationalise the approach to the applications process. I entirely understand it and obviously one hopes that efficiencies can be garnered therefrom. However, from the point of view of public interaction or understanding the process, it has been very difficult for those who are engaging with SUSI to get adequate answers. Moreover, there have been issues regarding missing paperwork, speaking to a human being, material getting lost, delays and so on. It has been extremely difficult. Interestingly, while approximately 27,000 students have successfully received grants at this point, approximately 7,300 have had their fees paid. I refer to the 4,246 decisions in respect of appeals.

Half of the cases have been appealed successfully. That is a high rate. Can Mr. Ó Foghlú explain why that is the case? Are there administrative issues where decisions made, when revisited, are overturned easily? The quite high rate of successful appeals sends out an interesting message about the system and how it is working. Could the Secretary General comment on that?