Mr. Seán Ó Foghlú:

May I respond more broadly on the particular set of issues in 2012-13? We have received a submission from City of Dublin ETB and we have sought clarity on whether there was any fraud. It has confirmed that there was not and that it was not a case of error on behalf of the applicant but more a case of error in the SUSI processes. Also, the board has asserted that it was a once-off occurrence. We are looking at the legal issues involved and we are obviously concerned with the impact across the public sector, so we have to look at those issues. If we were to come to a view - we have not - that any of the sums should be written off, we would have to agree it with the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform. However, we are looking at those issues at the moment in relation to those first years. Ms Stewart has referred to the subsequent years.

We have got to remember that quite a low proportion of students are in receipt of a maintenance grant so, quite often, these are partial or full payments for fees. In a sense, there is a slight difference. However, anywhere a mistake was made there has been a correction going forward. Even if SUSI has a continuing relationship with somebody, that individual is not actually given any cash if SUSI is only paying his or her fees. It is only paying the student charge, which is €2,750 at the moment.