Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to provide some clarity on this matter. In fairness, and as the Deputy will know, applicants are assessed on last year's income, so the measure is very much a benefit for this summer. Students applying to SUSI for September will be assessed on what they earned in summer 2021. What we tried to do this year was ensure that a student working in a bar, a hotel, a shop or a restaurant would be able to earn a little more than €2,000 more this year. Applicants are not assessed on that income until the following year, however, so it is absolutely a measure for this summer. Applicants are always analysed based on their income going back 12 months. I do not think that making the change Deputy Conway-Walsh suggests would have helped students because they are being assessed this year on what they earned last summer. I am telling them they can go ahead, work hard and earn more money. Work should always pay, and we will not penalise them when they then reapply to SUSI next year. That is how the system is working. I am happy, if the Deputy wishes to write to me, to engage further with her on the matter.

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