James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)

I appreciate that.

It is worth putting on record some of the increases that are already kicking in for this September. The threshold for 100% payment of the student contribution grant - this is aside from SUSI maintenance grants, which are paid out to help with the living expenses of students - rises from €55,924 to €64,315. That means that 44,500 extra people will now avail of a full student fees on top of the maintenance grant.

The 50% student contribution grant - the half-fees paid - threshold goes from €62,000 to €71,300. Almost 4,000 extra people will come into that net.

The €500 student contribution grant threshold will go from €100,000 to €115,000. Curiously, last year that measure was there and while 40,000 people were estimated to be eligible for it, only 18,000 applied. I do not know what is going on there. Perhaps there is a bit of work to do. I certainly intend to do it over the summer to highlight awareness of those measures. It begs the question. It is something we need to interrogate. I will run awareness campaigns and will engage with TDs in terms of getting information out there but we need to make sure people get the support that is available because a lot of support is being made available and not availed of.

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