Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

First, we should not say we are standing over a system that we are not yet sure is as the Deputy describes. I agree that this is about every individual student and I do not intend to be in any way dismissive in relation to that. However, I also need to be conscious of anything that I do being legal, equitable and consistent with that approach of equity of access. For example, if I was to include a PUP payment as an income disregard, why would the Deputy not wish me to include a lone parent's payment as an income disregard, a jobseeker's benefit which is the same principle, or a jobseeker's allowance? I need to make sure that I do not do anything that is not legal in the first instance and I also need to make sure that I do not do anything that is not equitable. My approach to this - I say this in a constructive fashion - is to see if the change-of-circumstances mechanism can be flexible and comprehensive and show enough commonsense to work through the individual cases. If that turns out not to be the case, I will look and see if there is some bespoke solution that can be arrived at.

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