Gary Gannon (Dublin Central, Social Democrats)
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48. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if his attention has been drawn to the lack of eligibility to student grants for persons who hold stamp 4 visas; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12848/22]

Gary Gannon (Dublin Central, Social Democrats)
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Has the Minister's attention being drawn to the lack of eligibility to student grants for persons who hold stamp 4 visas and will he make a statement on the matter?

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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I do not wish to make the Deputy uncomfortable, but I found myself agreeing with him during the previous Question Time. I find myself similarly thinking that there is merit in the issue he has raised this evening. I have done some work on it and I am committing now to intensify that work to try to get a positive outcome.

The nationality requirements for the student grant scheme are set out in section 14 of the Student Support Act 2011 and regulation 5 of the Student Support Regulations 2021. The candidate's nationality or immigration status in the State determines whether she or he meets the nationality requirement outlined in the Act and regulations, and would be therefore eligible to qualify for a student grant.

Permission to remain in the State on the basis of a stamp 4 visa does not, in itself, meet the nationality requirements of the student grant scheme. There is provision for a review of eligibility where a person’s circumstances change in the academic year. This includes a change to a student's immigration status in our country. Where a student acquires Irish citizenship by naturalisation or is granted one of the permission-to-remain criteria provided for in the Act or regulations during the course of their studies, she or he may apply to SUSI to have their application reassessed.

It is important that our approach to these issues is equitable, consistent and fully aligned with the intent and purpose of the immigration permissions which are granted to individuals. I have met the Irish Refugee Council to discuss this matter. We have tried to introduce changes in a number of areas. The Irish Refugee Council has been advocating for a change in this area for some time and there is significant merit in it. I understand that a number of NGOs have written to my Department in recent months on the matter. As a result of this and as a result of the Deputy's question, I have asked my officials to look in further detail at the issue he has raised. I have asked them to look at the wider issue of alignment of SUSI grants and free fee support with immigration permissions in collaboration with other relevant Departments and to provide advice to me as quickly as possible as to whether I can make any changes in this area to align with those broader objectives.

Gary Gannon (Dublin Central, Social Democrats)
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I assure the Minister that finding commonality across the Chamber would never be an issue to be uncomfortable with. I wanted to raise this matter in general but also specifically relating to Irish citizens who are not currently eligible for the SUSI grant. This issue was brought to my attention by Kuxi Ghai, an incredible law student in Kings Inns and also an incredible advocate for the SPARK one-parent family group. I thank Ms Ghai for her tireless campaign. The Minister mentioned the principles of equity.

Currently, grants are given to those with permission to remain in the State with stamp 4 visas if they are the spouse or civil partner of an Irish citizen or a dependent child of a naturalised Irish citizen. Not included in the eligibility are those who have permission to remain in the State with stamp 4 visas who are parents of Irish citizens. Excluding parents of Irish citizens is inconsistent with any principle of equity. It flies in the face of the purpose and intent of the stamp 4 permissions for parents of dependent Irish citizens. In his response the Minister suggested that he would undertake a review and make a change. I hope we can do that very quickly. In my next contribution I will make suggestions for an amendment that could be made as suggested by Kuxi Ghai.

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy for the information and for the constructive way in which he is approaching this. I am very open and want to do more in this area. Since I came to office, we have already made three changes to try to support students coming to Ireland. First, we removed the requirement for prospective applicants coming in through our international protection system to have attended three academic years in the Irish school system and to have obtained a leaving certificate. I thought that was a ridiculous requirement. Subsequently, in 2021 the scheme was further expanded to allow eligible applicants to undertake postgraduate courses. In March of last year, my colleague the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Deputy O'Gorman, and I jointly announced that international protection applicants with permission to work would no longer be required to pay the international student fees to access post-leaving certificate, PLC, education courses.

We have been working with the sector. We have been listening to NGOs and the Irish Refugee Council. I accept there is a valid argument regarding those with stamp 4 visas. I am sure my colleagues in the Department of Justice will have a view and I need to engage with them on that. I will be happy to revert to the House and to the Deputy then.

Gary Gannon (Dublin Central, Social Democrats)
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I am really happy that we seem to be in line regarding reviewing this. However, I wrote to the Minister in November and again in January, at which time we seemed to be at odds. I am glad that seems to have been rectified.

I am very conscious that the Minister has included reference to the Minister for Justice. My concern is that the buck will continue to be passed between the Department of Justice and the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science. There is an onus on Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science because the Minister is responsible for widening access and participation rates of marginalised groups, particularly those heading one-parent families and those coming from migrant backgrounds. This is a barrier for education. Kuxi Ghai, whom I mentioned, has not only raised this issue with me but she has also proposed potential solutions through amendment to the Student Support Regulations 2021 to include a new section that would specifically allow parents of Irish citizens to be eligible for the grant. I will email that to the Minister's office tomorrow.

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy. I was merely stating that issues relating to immigration policy are matters for the Department of Justice. I agree with the Deputy that issues relating to widening access to education are very much the responsibility of my Department. We do not shirk that nor do we pass it to any other Department. The approach I take is that it is always of benefit to provide access to education for people in our country regardless of nationality, circumstances, background, gender or any other matter. We have already taken a number of steps to do that. I accept that we need to do more. Dr. Catherine Day's report also broadly indicates we need to do more. We could do more on the area the Deputy has identified. I will try to rectify this and I look forward to receiving his email. I am happy to keep in close contact with him on this.