Jonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I will give the Minister two examples of the frustration that occurs. On 5 November, I e-mailed SUSI on behalf of a constituent. Some 14 days later, I received a response from the SUSI helpdesk about the e-mail, which I sent from my Oireachtas e-mail account to the e-mail address we were given. The response, 14 days after I first e-mailed, was that SUSI was unable to discuss the application for data protection reasons. I am sure the Minister for Education and Skills thinks this is unacceptable and that the system is not working. If it is not working for us as public representatives making representations on behalf of students, it is certainly not working for the students.

I received an e-mail from another student who applied in July. On 18 October, she received a letter stating her application was successful and to log onto the SUSI account profile to input her details. When she tried, she was unable to do so. The indication was that the application had not been processed. Since 18 October, she has spent over €30 of credit telephoning SUSI but has been unable to get through because she is put on hold. She sent three e-mails and each got the response that she would be contacted within one working day. Today, she received an e-mail requesting her PPS number, her SUSI application number, her phone number and her e-mail address, despite the fact that SUSI had just e-mailed her. That is the response students and elected representatives are getting from the SUSI helpdesk. It is simply unacceptable.

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