James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for her question and interest in the area. She is her party's spokesperson in this area and I wish her well in that role. I look forward to working with her across the floor in the coming years.

Regarding students who are considered to be dependent at the age of 23, this is part of the wider student grant system and scheme, which is kept under continuous review. Every year, the Department publishes an options paper that sets out costed reforms and changes to the scheme. I am currently engaged in that process and have had several stakeholder events, including meeting students' unions and other interested parties. I intend to publish a paper later this year before the budget on this which will inform public and political debate on what options should be prioritised.

There are many different parameters and moving parts. When you change one, it has a knock-on effect on another. I look forward to a discussion, informed by the options paper, as to what are the appropriate measures and how we make them.

In examining changes to eligibility criteria, which this question is about, I must consider how a change might impact on a particular cohort when compared with the demands of other cohorts and across the rest of the sector. I must also have regard for the availability of resources in the Estimates process.

In general, for student grant purposes, students are categorised according to their circumstances either as students dependent on their parents or legal guardians, or as independent mature students. A student may be assessed as an independent student if they have attained the age of 23 on 1 January of the year of first entry or re-entry to an approved further education course or an approved higher education course and if they have not been ordinarily resident with their parents from the previous 1 October. Otherwise, they are assessed as a dependent student which means they are assessed with reference to parental income.

Applicants who do not meet the criteria to be assessed as an independent student for grant purposes or who cannot supply the necessary documentation to establish independent living for the required period may still apply to the awarding authority, SUSI, to have their grant eligibility assessed as a dependent student.

More than €351 million has been allocated in 2025 to student grants to aid access to education. That student grant scheme has recently been expanded-----

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