Niall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputies for raising this important issue. I am conscious of the difficulties being experienced by students and their families as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic and the importance of the student grant scheme and related supports such as the student assistance fund and the fund for students with disabilities. These supports have a fundamental role in assisting students and parents who are putting their children through further and higher education. I will outline in my reply the various supports available through my Department to assist higher education students, including student nurses. They encompass a range of additional supports that have been put in place for students as part of budget 2021 and under the Government's Covid response earlier this year.

The principal support provided by the Department in financial terms is the student grant scheme. Under the terms of the scheme, grant assistance is awarded to students attending an approved course in an approved institution if they meet the prescribed conditions of funding, including those relating to nationality, residency, previous academic attainment and means. The decision on eligibility for a student grant is a matter, in the first instance, for the awarding authority, which is Student Universal Support Ireland, SUSI. For the 2020-21 academic year, grant applications will be based on gross income from all sources for the year from 1 January to 31 December 2019. However, if a student has experienced a change in circumstances since then, that can be notified and flagged to SUSI and will be taken into account. In such cases, applicants may qualify for a revised grant. Details of this process are available on the SUSI website, susi.ie. All students in third level institutions who are experiencing exceptional financial need can apply for support under the student assistance fund. This fund assists students, in a sensitive and compassionate manner, who might otherwise be unable to continue their third level studies due to financial circumstances.

In 2020, my Department will spend approximately €450 million on access measures for further and higher education. This includes €400 million on student grants and related activities, which is expected to benefit 74,000 further and higher education students. As part of budget 2021, the Minister, Deputy Harris, and I secured an additional €20 million to provide for additional applicants to SUSI, €6 million to expand supports to postgraduate students and an additional €1.5 million to support the most disadvantaged students through the 1916 bursary scheme. We have also secured a €50 million fund to support full-time third level students this year.

A range of additional supports have also been provided to reflect the particular circumstances of learners affected by the pandemic. We have doubled the level of funding available under the student assistance fund from €8 million to €16 million. We have increased the level of funding for the 1916 bursary bund to €5 million per annum, which will provide an additional 200 bursaries and bring the total for 2021 to 1,000 bursaries for the most disadvantaged students in the country. As I outlined, we have secured an additional €20 million for SUSI, allocated €6 million to enhance SUSI supports for postgraduate students and provided a €50 million third-level support fund. We have also introduced a €15 million scheme to assist students in purchasing laptops. Finally, we have put in place a €3 million well-being and mental health fund.

Many students undertake placements as part of the process of attaining their qualification. They include a wide range of health professionals undertaking placements in the HSE and the wider health service. Bursaries, stipends, payments and other forms of remuneration are entirely a matter for the health service rather than the course provider or my Department. I very much appreciate the points raised by the Deputies regarding the situation of student nurses. I have set out the relevant supports available to students, including student nurses, within the remit of my Department. I have no doubt that the Deputies may wish to pursue the matter further with the Department of Health.

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