Mr. Peter Brown:

I thank the Senator for his question. As a research funder, the funding that we provide to awardees covers fees so the IRC does not have a view on that. On the SUSI grants, it is very important, given that PhDs are full-time students, that the SUSI grants are open to PhD candidates who may be of limited means and who may face barriers to participating in a PhD programme or acquiring a PhD qualification by reason of income constraints. It is very important that postgraduate students are included in the criteria for SUSI grants and can access those grants.