Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will say to Deputy Dillon that there are a number of areas in which I want to make progress. There are three in particular, one of which we discussed earlier regarding the income disregard for a student who is working a shift in a pub or hotel at the weekend and who is worried about losing his or her grant. That is something logical on which we can move fairly swiftly.

The second issue is part-time students. I am frustrated about this and want to get it resolved. I have been very clear in relation to this. I have spoken to Professor Tom Collins, who is doing a very good job of chairing a group that is doing some work on this. This is an area on which I want to move and I believe there is unanimity across the House in that regard.

The third area is the income threshold piece. We need to make sure that as incomes rise, which they are doing in Ireland, people can continue to access student supports. We have increased them in recent years. We need to do more. Those three areas are not exclusive or exhaustive but they are three areas in which we can make progress.

Deputy Conway-Walsh's question is important. We have always adopted the approach that when a person gets a social welfare rate increase, we must make sure it does not have a knock-on effect in losing another one. As the Deputy knows, SUSI is retrospective in that it goes back a year. I will be working to make sure there is no fall-out of the special rate as a result of someone getting a social welfare increase. It will be a matter for the Estimates formally but that has always been a tradition we have taken.

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