Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The determining date will be 1 October 2019 but if it is necessary for me to provide further clarity or assistance on that, I will be happy to do so. Deputy O'Connor makes a valid point. Through this example and other correspondence he has sent me, he highlights the need to overhaul the entire student support scheme. He has asked me to stand over the logic of the system. I can read out long explanations for how the logic was arrived at and why the legal position, underpinned in this House in statute, is in place. However, times change and lives change. The way in which we live our lives changes, as does the education system. That is why, when we negotiated the programme for Government, we included a firm commitment not only to review but to radically overhaul the student support scheme. This is an area I will examine in that context.

Budget 2021 will be announced in October. We cannot do everything in one day but the budget may provide space to carry out the comprehensive review of the student support scheme over the coming months. The student assistance fund is the alternative funding available in the meantime, which we have doubled to €16 million this year.

See this speech in context