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

I thank the Deputy for raising this important matter. I have a long written reply before me, but I will only speak to parts of it.

Section 21 of the student grant scheme sets out the person whose income is to be considered. Section 21(2) states: "Where the dependent student's parents are divorced or legally separated, or it is established to the satisfaction of the relevant awarding authority that they are separated, the reckonable income shall be that of the applicant and of the parent or parents with whom the applicant resides." In circumstances where the awarding authority is satisfied that a student's parents are separated, the student will be assessed on the income of the student and the parent with whom the student resides. The outcome of this decision is that the student, who may not have ordinarily qualified for a grant, may now qualify or may qualify for a higher rate of grant. Therefore, it is important for the integrity of the scheme that corroborative evidence be provided by the applicant.

The type of evidence required is dependent on the applicant's individual circumstances. Evidence of separation must be provided to allow SUSI to satisfy itself fully that the conditions of the exemption are met. In assessing the evidence presented, SUSI will have regard to the particular circumstances in each case and the corroborative nature of the evidence available to support the claim of separation. Ultimately, it is a matter for SUSI to determine what evidence it will accept as proof of separation. However, the scheme does not stipulate precisely how SUSI satisfies itself, which is the issue upon which the Deputy is hitting. This is to allow the applicant sufficient flexibility to provide the necessary corroborating evidence and to give SUSI flexibility in assessing these difficult cases.

As the Deputy stated, the evidence that SUSI accepts as proof of separation includes a separation agreement, a divorce decree, a court-ordered maintenance arrangement, a decree of dissolution of a civil partnership and evidence from the Department of Social Protection confirming receipt of a deserted wife's allowance or a one-parent family payment. If there is no legal agreement, acceptable evidence includes a letter from a solicitor in which the solicitor confirms that separation and-or legal proceedings are pending, a letter or document from a family mediation service, for example, the Legal Aid Board, that confirms current or past participation in family mediation, and proof of living separately, for example, utility bills for the same period. Where the applicant demonstrates by providing one or more of the above documents that his or her parents are living separately, SUSI will only include the income of the applicant and that of the parent with whom the applicant resides.

All of that said, the Deputy has raised a legitimate point. If there is a trend of the independent appeals board overturning decisions that were appealed internally in the SUSI scheme, it points to an issue. What concerns the Deputy and me, and what should concern everyone, is the delay and stress that this would cause people. If they are ultimately awarded their grants, they will still have been put through an elongated process when it is a fact that their parents are separated.

If the Deputy could furnish us with some of the details of his cases, I will ask my Department to examine them.

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