Mr. Philip Connolly:

That just concerns whether an applicant is classed as a dependent student or a mature student. Income is reviewed each year so an applicant can come back to us at any point each year. We have covered the issues of dependants, those under 23 and whether an applicant's class can be reclassified. It is the case that if a person is going from further education to higher education or has had a break of three years or more in study, he or she can reclassify. An example is if an applicant went into year one as a dependant, followed by a break and he or she then comes back into year two some three years later. In that case, the person can be reclassified as a mature student.

The next question from Deputy Ó Laoghaire was on the issue of discretion. I have probably outlined the answer in some of my previous responses. We are working on the basis of a statutory scheme and there is very little discretion within the rules.

Regarding working with students and the issue of the documentary evidence required to verify information, we have flexibility in what we can do. We will work with students to support them if we can.

On the issue of overtime, if within the context of the scheme it is not classed as recurring, it can be taken away. I refer to the example given of a person working in Apple receiving overtime in one year but not in the next. As long as we have a letter from the employer stating that this was a once-off payment, that can be taken away from the reckonable income for that particular year.

I have covered the topic of dependency. The Deputy gave the example of an applicant couch-surfing in respect of trying to provide proof. We try to work with students to see what documentary evidence they can provide to class themselves as independent students who are not living with their parents. There is also the case of students returning to college after having left for a period. Students who come back to college in those circumstances can reclassify as an independent student if they have had a break of three years. I hope that suffices to answer the Deputy's questions.