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

I thank Deputy Nash for raising this important matter. As the Deputy will be aware, the Minister for Education and Skills provided him with a detailed response on 19 February 2014 in respect of the application by the student referred to by the Deputy for support under the student grant scheme. I understand that the Deputy has submitted more recent correspondence and the Minister will respond to this.

The student in question qualified for the standard rate of maintenance grant plus a grant of €2,500 for the student contribution charge. The special rate of grant is a targeted access measure to provide specific interventions for the most disadvantaged students recognising their ongoing long-term dependence on welfare support. Under the student grant scheme, the qualifying criteria for the special rate of grant must include one of the listed eligible long-term payments by the Department of Social Protection or a long-term payment for a designated programme.

Illness benefit is considered to be a short-term social welfare payment and, therefore, it is not included as an eligible payment for the purposes of the special rate of maintenance grant. Where a person is incapacitated on a long-term basis, and I agree wholeheartedly with the Deputy when he describes 18 months as long-term because it certainly is, it is a matter for the Department of Social Protection to adjudicate on whether the person should be moved to a long-term payment. Eligibility for the special rate can be reviewed during the academic year if there is a permanent change in circumstances such as when an individual is awarded one of the eligible long-term payments for the special rate by the Department of Social Protection. Should the Department of Social Protection make a backdated award, this date is taken into account for the review. While a student may not be eligible for the special rate of maintenance grant in his or her first year of study, he or she may apply for the special rate in subsequent years of their study if that change in circumstances occurs.

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