Peter Fitzpatrick (Louth, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

In recent months I have assisted a family in Dundalk with a Student Universal Support Ireland, SUSI, application. This family has two children in third level education and they face a dilemma, as both children's SUSI applications, SUSI appeals and appeals to the student grant appeals board have been refused. We have now been told the process has gone as far as we can with SUSI. The family must now come to terms with the fact that their children have to leave college because the family cannot afford the fees and expenses. Unfortunately, the father's business went bust and he has been declared insolvent, with the family entering into a personal insolvency arrangement, PIA. The mother's income, which is the sole income of the household, is now an allowance from her salary, with the remainder going to the PIA to cover debts. The family does not have access to the amount that SUSI has calculated as income and they are working from extremely tight allowances, where every cent is accounted for in the PIA. The husband cannot claim social welfare as he was self-employed.

The response from the student grant appeals board states:

There is no provision under the student grant scheme to provide for any exceptions to those involved in the process of insolvency. The assessment of means is applied equally to everyone. This ensures all applicants have the same starting points and eliminates any distortion which might arise from the different individual spending decisions.

This is very unfair on the family as they are not equal to other applicants and they do not have the same starting points as all other applicants. This family should be assessed on the allowance only, as it is the only money they have. If that were the case, the family would qualify for the full SUSI grant.

It is also unfair that the board states this "eliminates any distortion which might arise from different individual spending decisions". This family's individual spending decision is no longer theirs, as every decision is made for them, with the allowance from the bank right down to what they can spend on groceries. The comment is very unfair. I have no interest in playing the blame game and we all know the difficulties in dealing with banks. I am more interested in what my Government can do for this family and families in similar positions. The Taoiseach speaks about rewarding people who get up early in the morning and go to work, and this family is an example. The family members are hard working. The wife is a hard-working professional and the husband was an entrepreneur who, due to unfortunate circumstances, has been left in this position. They want a bright future for their children. These people could have gone down the route of declaring bankruptcy and living on the State, receiving free education, social welfare, medical cards etc., but this was not an option. The family wants to repay its debts.

In the Minister's previous role with responsibility for jobs and enterprise, he encouraged people like this family to do well in business. It is vital that the Government helps families when business does not go to plan. My Government needs to assist our entrepreneurs at all stages as they are valuable to our economy. This is one of the nicest families I have come across in my time in politics and the stress being faced by them is unimaginable. The parents have been losing sleep and carrying guilt because they cannot assist their children in obtaining an education, as every parent wants for their child. Their children will have to drop out of college after working so hard to gain places in their respective colleges. The family is also worried about banks that will not allow them to alter the allowance in any way. This is affecting their overall health and particularly their mental health. They are exhausted, stressed and understandably depressed. The mother was in my office and broke down, telling me, "Peter, there is no more I can possibly do. We have let our children down."

In this day and age, no family in Ireland should have to face this problem. I ask the Minister to insert a provision under the student grant scheme to provide for exceptions for those involved in the insolvency process.

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