James O'Connor (Cork East, Fianna Fail)
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Is there anything that could be done to improve the position regarding postgraduate funding? Quite a few PhD candidates have told us that there is a cut-off in the supports available to them if they had spent any time outside Ireland.

If they return, they are not eligible, despite having citizenship. The cause of some people returning to Ireland is to do that further education, with the intention of staying here, in the cases I have dealt with, in all fairness. We came across cases where people cannot get access to the supports. I know that is not covered for PhD funding under SUSI.