Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the students the Deputy has brought from his constituency.

Under the student grant scheme, SUSI grants are awarded to eligible students attending an approved course in an approved institution who meet the conditions of funding, including nationality and residency. The scheme has a strong statutory underpinning and is operated in accordance with the provisions of the law, namely, the Student Support Act 2011. To be eligible for a grant, a student must show that he or she has been resident in the State for at least three years out of the five-year period ending on the day before his or her course starts. The residency rule is applied equally to everyone regardless of individual circumstances, including Irish citizens returning home from a period of working abroad. The Act also explicitly states that a person shall not be entitled to derive any benefit from a period of unlawful presence in the State.

The Department of Justice's regularisation of long-term undocumented migrants scheme is an administrative scheme relating to immigration status. Having responsibility for both Departments, I have asked the officials in the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science to liaise with colleagues in the Department of Justice on the various categories of immigration status in the context of student grant eligibility.

While I am instinctively supportive, I need to ensure I operate within the confines of the law and do not do anything that has an unintended consequence in terms of advantaging one person to the disadvantage of another, given that, if I did, we would end up with legal difficulties. Within that context, though, I am examining whether a solution can be found. Once officials in both Departments have finished their deliberations, I will be happy to re-engage with Deputy Flaherty on the matter.

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