Fiona O'Loughlin (Kildare South, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am not going to delay proceedings. My colleagues asked very pertinent questions and made very pertinent comments. We have had three really good presentations. In response to Ms Fitzpatrick, I support the recommendations that have been made and I support the nine private institutions that are receiving SUSI fees. When we had the Wake-up SUSI hearings here, we discovered that when a student is filling in a CAO form, those third level institutions are not marked as fee paying or private. Many students ended up going to them, not realising they were fee paying, which caused a lot of problems down the line. They felt they were disadvantaged. USI made an interesting point that gaining a previous degree within the previous five years should not preclude a student from qualifying for SUSI. Deputy Thomas Byrne has referred to this. We must bear in mind that €2 million has been taken out of the funding this year, which hopefully will not be repeated. If there is a pot and a balance has to be struck, I believe it should be in favour of those accessing college for the first time. That begs another question for Mr. Connolly in terms of the pot SUSI has. Does SUSI ensure that successful applications get 100% of that money? When the funding goes down by €2 million, as it has this year, do the students get less money or is there money left afterwards? Does SUSI then look at other applications that have not been successful but, because there was some extra money there, may be next in line?

Ms Fanning was saying that the current maintenance grant amount does not reflect the reality of the cost of living, which I completely agree with. Does the ISSU have a proposed framework to calculate a more appropriate maintenance amount? Ms Fanning was also talking about the cost of accommodation, which is horrific. The son of a colleague is going to college and received the SUSI grant; however, his accommodation on campus has to be paid for upfront, which costs €8,000. I know the SUSI grant is not to pay accommodation but the fact is that parents who are under the income threshold for a SUSI grant for their son or daughter are expected to pay €8,000 straight up for accommodation.

That causes a crisis within the family. We have seen by how much the cost of accommodation has increased. It is unacceptable that third level accommodation has not been included in the rent pressure zones. A Bill was introduced to provide for such a measure, but that has not happened. I am making a comment rather than asking a question. This is different from what we have been talking about. It is unacceptable that people who got tax breaks to build student accommodation are allowed to increase the fees being charged for that accommodation. They are getting two bites at the same cherry. The Government needs to look at this.

I thank Mr. Connolly for his overview of the work of SUSI. It is a good system. It has been improved. Mr. Connolly has outlined some of the improvements that have been made. Obviously, things need to go further. The flexibility about which everybody has spoken is very important for people in direct provision and for families who find themselves in difficult situations for various reasons. I have dealt with a family whose means exceeded the threshold by €111. Health issues within the family were not being accounted for. As one of 11 children - Senator Gallagher mentioned a similar family - I believe consideration should be given to the number of children in a family. The manner in which the notification of SUSI grants is communicated to third level colleges is very important. Obviously, it needs to be done on a timely basis.

I would like to ask again about the degree of flexibility that exists. Some of my colleagues have mentioned the direct route as opposed to the public transport route. We cannot underestimate that because it is very important. Are there any common mistakes that people make when they are submitting their applications? It is important for any such mistakes to be flagged because they may be of benefit or of help. I appreciate that most of the questions that have been asked have been directed at Mr. Connolly. I will ask Ms Fanning and Ms Fitzpatrick to respond before I bring Mr. Connolly back in.