Professor Diarmuid Hegarty:

It is a great story about that student. It should be told more often. Well done, Chairman. You must have got great satisfaction in winning that battle. The one reform I would like to see in SUSI is for students to be treated equitably and fairly. Two students came before the committee during the Wake Up SUSI campaign. I do not think Deputy Kehoe was the Chairman then. One of their fathers was borrowing from the credit union to fund his fees in the private college he was going to. The other was being supported by the St. Vincent de Paul. Both of them would have qualified on a means test basis. It was absolutely unfair that they should have found themselves without access to those funds. They were looking for the same funds a student would get in the public sector.

I completely agree with the Chairman. If one looked at the student assistance fund and where it is helping students one would get some insight into the types of situations of which SUSI needs to be mindful and supportive. From looking at that, we might get the flexibility we are looking for in SUSI. That is a suggestion.

I would like to finish by thanking Senator Dolan and the Chairman for staying with us to the bitter end.