Ms Jacinta Stewart:

I apologise. I believe both speakers asked whether we had enough staff. We have 99 staff at present. That figure will increase to 116. To put it in the terms we use, we had 65 whole-time equivalents and we have 88 whole-time equivalents this year. There are times during the year, depending on SUSI's cycle, when we are very busy. That is why our staff complement might reach 99 or 116 before we downsize at quieter times of the year. We are employing the full number of staff that has been approved for this year.

Deputy Collins asked what we are doing to help students avoid dropping out. We are opening earlier for applications. In an ideal world, we would like to open the applications process at the same time as the CAO applications process. When people fill in their college applications, they should be able to fill in their grant applications at the same time. In the initial stages of the process, applicants do not have to tell us what college they are planning to attend. We want the message to students to be clearer. We have to be as clear as we can. We need to process applications more quickly.

This brings us back to the issue of reducing the amount of paperwork. The reduction from 66 to one in the number of agencies doing this work has enabled us to co-operate with bodies such as the Revenue Commissioners and the General Register Office. They would not be able to provide information to 66 bodies but they are able to provide it to us. Mr. Connolly has done a great deal of work to ensure that is happening. We have online access to other State bodies. As I said, that has been hugely beneficial.

Mr. Conroy spoke about the issue of students getting stuck in the system. There are some cases of estrangement, for example.

We were asked whether the number of appeals is relatively high. We hope to eliminate much of that at the internal review stage by identifying problems more quickly. I do not think we are naive enough to expect not to encounter problems. One of the challenges for us is to deal with these cases as quickly as possible. We hope it will work much better if we can ensure people are not put through a long process at the internal review stage. As members will be aware, there is a 30-day requirement and all kinds of things are involved.

I think I have dealt with the cost and staffing issues that were raised by Senator O'Donnell. The main reasons for ineligibility, which she also asked about, are non-qualification in respect of income and failure to submit documents or to do so on time. I was surprised that we received so many applications after the closing date. A large proportion of those cases related to changes in circumstances. Nevertheless, they were deemed to be late applications. That is a concern.

We were also asked about SUSI's main problems. I think communications have to be better and clearer. Anybody who examines this system will learn that it is based on a statutory instrument. It is a clear that a huge amount of information is involved. We are seeking to reduce what the student has to give us by arranging for other State bodies to provide that information directly, obviously with the permission of the student.

This should make the process faster and clarify some of the issues that are emerging - for instance, independent means and estrangement - thus allowing us to identify them to the Department. These are clearly national issues which need to be addressed.