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

The report of the action group on access to third level education, which forensically analysed all of the routes to third level education and made detailed recommendations concerning the introduction of special rates of maintenance grant for disadvantaged students, concluded that the target group of those most in need was defined in terms of dependants of persons receiving long-term welfare payments. At present, illness benefit is considered to be a short-term social welfare payment and, as the Deputy mentioned, persons can be on that payment for a period as short as a couple of weeks. Therefore, it is not included as an eligible payment for the purpose of the special rate of maintenance grant.

It is not an issue of SUSI somehow being inflexible in how it applies the conditions of the scheme in the case of this particular family. It is an issue of how exactly the Department of Social Protection deals with those who find themselves moving long beyond that short-term illness benefit period, as the Deputy described, for up to 18 months, and how an individual can easily transition from illness benefit to a more long-term payment which automatically entitles him or her to this extra support from SUSI and the Department of Education and Skills. That is where the issue lies and perhaps the Deputy might engage with the Department of Social Protection to see how that conundrum can be resolved. As it stands, because the illness benefit is considered by this Department to be a short-term payment and not eligible for that special support, it is not proposed to depart from the existing arrangements for the determination of eligibility for the special rate of maintenance grant.

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