Mr. Keith Moynes:

It seemed a bit bizarre to us as well, to be honest. Obviously, we have to look at trend data and if we look back over the trend in the previous year there were 76,000. The year before that there were 79,000 and the year before that there were 76,000 odd. In 2022-23, there were 66,000. It is a demand-led scheme. There are probably a couple of things happening. We obviously have a very strong economy and there is a high degree of correlation between SUSI applications and the economy, so that is part of it. There is something about thresholds as well. The eligibility thresholds were left untouched for a long period in the 2010s. We are only trying to catch up now. As household income changes, if the SUSI scheme is not keeping track with it then we lose the ability. It is a demand-led scheme, so we want people to avail of the supports.