Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy. Of course, we did take measures in this House to benefit students for this academic year. We changed the law in respect of student renters not once, but twice, to make sure that students could not be asked to pay more than one month's rent in advance or a deposit worth more than one month's rent. That was a significant issue and a solution was sought by students' unions with support from parties across this House. This could have a real and meaningful impact with regard to the amount of money students have to pay out up front. We also changed the law with regard to the notice period students, and other renters, need to give. In the budget, we also introduced the first increase in grant maintenance payments in some time, an increase of €200 per year. The income threshold is increasing by €1,000 and the qualifying distance criterion for students to qualify for the non-adjacent rate of grant is being reduced from 45 km to 30 km. These are not abstract things, as the Deputy knows. She has welcomed them. These changes will benefit thousands of students and will build on improvements that we brought in for this year for current students, including an increase and improvements for postgraduate students. However, I accept that we need to do more. I will point out that, if the Deputy looks at the terms of reference of the SUSI review, she will see that these are exactly the sorts of areas we have been looking at. We are not waiting for the publication of a report to make progress. We have started and I certainly hope to take many more steps in the budget.

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