Ciarán Cannon (Galway East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I wish to impress the importance of the applicants taking a degree of personal responsibility when submitting information. I doubt if the description of the long form of the birth certificate was not available on the website and that applicants were not made aware that this was the required format. The Deputy is correct that the system was delivered in a very short time period. Any new system and in particular a system dealing with 66,000 new applicants every year, will throw up challenges and teething problems. I am aware that the SUSI processes are being reviewed. The customer help desk has dealt with 130,000 inquiries this year. This system marks a significant cultural change in the student grant awards system. As the Deputy confirms, I am confident it will prove to be a very successful changeover to a new and more efficient and more customer-friendly process of grant awarding. I agree with the Deputy that USI should be actively involved in ensuring the glitches in the process are dealt with over the next few months before the new cohort arrives early next year.

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