Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I appreciate the concerns informing the Deputy's amendment. We have discussed this issue in the Dáil a couple of times during Question Time and so on. The amendment relates mainly to cases in which students may need to be assessed independently of their parents' income. The Minister has spoken on this issue once or twice and I have taken a debate on it on her behalf. She has stated that she is taking a strong interest in examining this matter.

The Deputy stated that he has encountered quite a number of genuine cases of estrangement, but they are relatively rare. Although they have a significant impact on individual students, each student has unique circumstances. In that context and having carefully considered the amendment, I do not propose to accept it for a number of reasons.

Subsections 16(3)(a) to (g), inclusive, of the Student Support Act 2011 provide for the Minister to specify a class of applicant or criterion that may be considered in determining whether an applicant is a student of a particular class. For example, the student grant scheme under SI 201 of 2014 provides in Article 21(3) for a dependent student to be exempted from having parents' income taken into account where it is established to the satisfaction of the relevant awarding authority that he or she is irreconcilably estranged from both parents and neither parent furnishes financial support to him or her.

I accept that the Deputy is concerned about satisfying the grant awarding authority in terms of the documents needed, but we do not need amending legislation to address that issue. It can be addressed by the Minister, who has said previously that she will look at it to see if further clarification is needed. We do not need to do it by way of the amendment proposed.

This provision allows the awarding authority to assess dependent students in genuine estrangement cases without reference to income or the address of their parents or guardians. The provisions, as they stand, in the Student Support Act 2011 are sufficient to allow latitude in specifying additional classes of applicant and the criteria to be applied for such applicants, having regard to the resources available and subject to the consent of the Minister for Finance.

The Minister for Education and Skills has said previously that she will look at this issue again and will work with the Deputy on it, but she does not believe an amendment is needed. In effect, the proposed amendment would replicate a provision in section 16(3) of the Student Support Act 2011. The option is already provided for in legislation. It is up to the Deputy to decide what to do with his amendment, but we can address the issue without it.