Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Deputy has raised this matter with me previously. The text message he received is very emotive, and we all deal with cases of people in difficult positions. There is a cut-off age here. I acknowledge the Deputy tabled an amendment but it was ruled out of order because, if I am to change the rules in the way it sought to do, that would have considerable budgetary consequences. Twenty-two is the cut-off age, and if I changed it to 23 or 24, that would involve a massive call on resources. I would say to that family that there a number of supports, through the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, such as the Student Universal Support Ireland, SUSI, grant. Additional resources and money have been provided for that and there has been a reduction in the fees.

I do not know what else I can say. There are supports and that is what we are doing. We are trying to help people but I cannot change the rules for one specific person, as I hope the Deputy will appreciate. The cut-off age for the qualified child allowance is 22 years of age. I have a copy of the request he sent to me. To be fair, it relates to an ongoing cost as opposed to an exceptional needs cost, so I think the family probably need to examine whether there are any other routes they can explore. I know the Deputy will be more than willing to help them do that to see whether any other options might be available to them.

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