Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will certainly reflect on the issue of paperwork and accessibility and so forth. As the Deputy acknowledged, SUSI staff are working extremely hard as they deal with a huge volume of applications and queries. I will talk to them to make sure it is as user-friendly a system as possible.

With regard to that issue of broadening the types of courses that qualify, my first intention would be part-time courses because there will be many students, including some the Deputy would know in Atlantic Technological University, who may wish to or have to study part time for a whole variety of reasons. They will still end up with the same qualifications but they are doing it in a different way. If that is the starting point, there are a whole variety of part-time courses. However, I am talking about students who end up with the same qualification they would have received if they did it full time but did it part time because they are perhaps holding down a job, caring for a relative or child or have a disability and that way was just not best for them. That is the area in which I would like to move. I am in agreement with the Deputy on that.

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