James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)

For the benefit of the House, let me recap on some of the measures kicking in this year. I will investigate with regard to the cohort mentioned. It is worth saying that the special rate of maintenance threshold increased this year from €26,200 to €27,400. All grant thresholds increased by 15%, meaning the highest threshold is now €115,000. I signed a statutory instrument about four weeks into this job to bring 100 additional part-time courses into the SUSI net and the support net for the first time. Therefore, we are broadening and deepening the system, and we are providing more supports to more students than ever before.

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