Seán Fleming (Laois, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

No. 2401C, dated 22 March, is from an individual concerning a decision of Student Universal Support Ireland, SUSI, and related requirements. The individual is in a difficult situation, which we all have encountered with constituents, as a consequence of SUSI's requirement that applicants provide financial information in respect of both their parents. Even where a student's parents are separated or divorced and there may be difficulties within the household, SUSI insists on obtaining that information. In some cases, a student might be living with one parent, who has no contact with the other. It might even be the case that one parent has secured a court order against the other. SUSI will not process grant applications until information on both parents is received, even though it is sometimes not possible for the applicant to obtain it. I propose that we write to SUSI requesting it to indicate its process and procedures for dealing with such exceptional cases. I have encountered students who could not go to college because one of their parents would not facilitate any correspondence with anybody. Without that information, SUSI will not process the application. That is unfair to students and it is not being dealt with in a satisfactory way. We will not refer to the correspondent in our letter to SUSI but we will ask about the organisation's general position on dealing with these types of issues. Is that agreed? Agreed.

No. 2411C, dated 25 September, is from an individual concerned about appointments to the public service of persons with a knowledge of Irish. I propose that we ask the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform to provide an information note regarding those appointments. The correspondent refers to the proposed official languages Bill 2019 and argues that the allocation of employment to a special interest group, which he calls "our Irish speakers", is a contrived State regulation and amounts to jobbery. Can Deputy Connolly advise whether the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform is the right Department to address on this matter?