Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for raising this matter. The student grant scheme will benefit some 80,000 students in the 2015-2016 academic year at a cost of approximately €350 million. In order to qualify for supports under the scheme, students have to meet a number of eligibility requirements, which are outlined in the Student Grant Scheme 2015. One of these requirements is the residency requirement, with which the Deputy has difficulty.

The residency requirement provides that a student, as defined in section 14 of the Student Support Act 2011, must demonstrate that he or she has been resident in the State for at least three years out of the five-year period ending on the day before the start of his or her approved course of study. Students must meet this criterion in order to be considered eligible for a maintenance grant. The rationale for the inclusion of a residency requirement in the student grant scheme is to ensure that those applying for a maintenance grant will have an established linkage with and be integrated into the State. This is a concept that is accepted across the EU. The residency requirement is also designed to obviate the risk of so-called grant tourism and prevent any abuse of the student grant scheme. There is, therefore, a very clear and robust rationale for including a residency requirement as part of the student grant scheme.

The Minister, Deputy Jan O'Sullivan, is satisfied that the existing residency requirement contains sufficient flexibility to ensure it does not have an adverse impact on students. A student can meet the residency requirement if he or she has not been outside the State for more than two of the previous five years. This takes cognisance of students who may wish to take time out to travel or work outside the State, including in a voluntary capacity as in the case mentioned by Deputy Mulherin. It is important to note that students who do not meet the residency requirement at the outset of their studies have an opportunity to qualify for a maintenance grant if they meet the residency requirement during the course of their studies.

In many respects, the requirements of this country's student grant scheme are more flexible than those of the schemes in other EU countries. To be eligible for support in Northern Ireland, a student must be resident in the UK, the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man for the three years immediately before he or she starts his or her course. A similar provision applies in Scotland and England. Access to student supports is even more restrictive in other parts of the EU. In Denmark, for example, an applicant for state education support must have resided in that country for a continuous period of at least five years. In light of the importance of a robust residency requirement as a precondition for accessing student supports, and the fact that the student grant scheme already provides a considerable degree of flexibility for students, it is not the Minister's intention to change the relevant criteria at this time. I know the Deputy has raised some specific issues, but the view is that the five-year rule allows for enough room for people to be able to manage these matters as well as possible.

See this speech in context