Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein)

As the Minister is aware, the difficulty will be with the grey areas and will affect those people who are on the edge or who are just outside the limit. However, the problem is worsening and increasing numbers of families and students are coming forward in this regard. Another difficulty arises in respect of some students who are lone parents but who also fall outside such thresholds. They claim that their chances of moving to full-time education, moving on with their lives and breaking the cycle of familial poverty will be gone because of the contribution fee being introduced by the Government. I note that no body or group is offering supports in this regard at present. A number of years ago, people could approach student unions and so on with such difficulties but the student unions now state the funds simply are not there because of the demand.

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