Kathleen Funchion (Carlow-Kilkenny, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 37:

In page 21, line 31, to delete “may” and substitute “shall”.

I am speaking to amendment No. 38 which we discussed briefly at the Joint Committee on Education and Skills. I spoke about it last week when we were discussing Brexit in this Chamber. The amendment proposes: "That the Minister may establish a specific section within the student support scheme of SUSI to address all potential post Brexit queries from students". The reasoning behind this is that if this Bill is intended to deal with a no-deal or crash-out Brexit, which nobody wants to see, it is extremely important that within Student Universal Support Ireland, SUSI, there is a special branch to deal with all the potential queries. I foresee many difficulties in this area. We are being told students are protected, there will be no changes and it will all be okay but I can envisage students telephoning SUSI and maybe getting a different answer. I mean no disrespect to SUSI but that is the way these things sometimes go. The amendment would allay many fears. It is not a very big request and it would be very positive for students and their parents to know that they would have a specific line where they could get all the relevant information.

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