Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I agree with the Deputy. Opportunities that are often available to students will not be available in the current college year, the most obvious being employment opportunities. Many students work part time to supplement the cost of living and the cost of going to college. For this reason, we decided to make a targeted intervention this year in doubling the student assistance fund. This fund is available through access offices in colleges and universities around the country for students who fall on hard times, in addition to SUSI grants. We also made sure that there was a flexibility in SUSI in terms of a sudden change in a family's income arising from Covid. It is also why we changed the rules relating to supports for people in direct provision to access SUSI grants as well. Let me be clear: I fully accept that there is more that needs to be done. The programme for Government references the need for a fundamental overhaul of the student support system and that is something I hope we can advance in the coming months.

See this speech in context