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

I want to make it clear that I was not trying to change the Deputy's view. I completely understand and empathise with the circumstances of the case she has raised. We try to encourage people to do voluntary work when they have time to do so, as many people have had in recent years. The difficulty is that there is no discretion with the residency requirement. The Student Support Act 2011 makes no provision for any exemptions in the cases of those who do not meet the residency requirements. Those requirements apply equally to everyone in respect of their individual circumstances. That has to be the case. The requirements of most of the schemes we operate have to be applied equally across the board. Regardless of whether one was working abroad, one was overseas as a volunteer or one does not meet the requirements because one was in some other scenario, those requirements have to be applied equally. I remind the Deputy that in recognition of people's movements in recent years, the rules were changed in the 2010-11 student year. Under the previous scheme, one needed to have been resident in Ireland for the year prior to one's application to go to college to do a course. Now that the rules have been changed to make the scheme more flexible, one needs to have been resident here for two of the previous five years. I think the rules were changed to allow for certain scenarios. There will always be cases in which people do not meet the criteria. These things are always under review. There is no scope for flexibility under the current guidelines or regulations. New legislation would be needed to-----

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