Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

As I have five minutes, I will ask my questions and then give the Minister the time to answer them. On his website, the Minister talks about the SUSI grant and he also spoke about it in his introduction today. He wants to reassure people there is scope to address loss of income as part of the grant scheme. I would like the Minister in his response to expand on how people will actually go about accessing that. It had always been the case that there was provision for situations where income changed within the year, but I want to know how people will go through the process and arrive at the point where income for the year will be considered by SUSI. This is very important and needs to be cleared up, given many people will be asking us questions in this regard.

A major worry for parents and students will be the lack of accommodation or the need to get accommodation which may be for only one or two days a week during the university year. Will that be addressed and how is the Minister dealing with that with the various colleges? I know colleges will try to blend the year to make sure students can have access for the full time while also maximising accommodation use, and I believe this will be detrimental to students. What does the Minister intend to do in this regard? I will give the Minister time to respond to those questions.

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