Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Final decisions have been made in respect of a further 500 applicants, representing 0.75% of all applications, but payment has not yet been made. In most cases, this is because SUSI has not received bank account details or students are no longer continuing their courses. The next payment date is 25 July. I appeal to each of these students to ensure they have provided their bank details to SUSI in time for payment to be made on that day.

In terms of the coming year, 22,000 students who were awarded grants last year have already submitted applications to renew their grants for next year and a further 26,000 students have submitted new applications for next year. This will allow SUSI to process applications over the summer months rather than having to wait until September to commence receipt of applications.

An independent review of SUSI was carried out by Accenture in recent months. In line with the recommendations of that review and, in preparation for the 2013-14 academic year, the online applications system and application assessment process have been further developed to deal with the difficulties experienced in year one. A number of new initiatives will also make the application process more efficient this year. Applications for the 2013-14 academic year have been accepted since 20 May this year while those who received grants last year have been able to apply for a renewal of their grant online in recent weeks. A number of changes have been made to the application process, including the collection of bank account details at an earlier stage in the process so that grant payments can be made as soon as applications are approved. More significantly, a direct transfer of data between the Revenue Commissioners, the Central Admissions Office and General Registration Office is now in place. SUSI now has access to appropriate Department of Social Protection social welfare records. This will allow it to significantly reduce the supporting documentation required of applicants.

SUSI is working to improve how it communicates with students. Its website has been completely overhauled to ensure that all information for students is available in one place and an online tracker system is now also available to applicants so that they can monitor the progress of their applications.

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