Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank my colleague, Senator Maria Byrne, very much for raising this important matter and, indeed, for her ongoing interest and work in the whole area of further and higher education.

I enjoyed our recent visit to County Limerick and we are going to make progress on many issues, including the library in Mary Immaculate College. I look forward to coming back on that. I also enjoyed attending her online meeting during which I had a chance to engage with students and parents, including the family she mentioned with regard to the need to reform SUSI.We are going to reform SUSI because we commissioned under the programme for Government a full review of the SUSI student grants scheme. That review has now been published. That was done after I brought it to Government and on the same day we published the sustainable funding model for higher education, so the Senator's raising this important matter is timely.

I launched the review of the student grants scheme on 4 May. I am committed to implementing the recommendations in the context of the annual Estimates process. The review raised, as the Senator rightly said, the issue of flexible learning. It cited something we all know to be true but it is good to have it backed up by the report, namely, that many individuals, particularly perhaps those from lower-income backgrounds, disadvantaged groups, or those with a disability may find it more accessible to access their education in a part-time manner. This might also apply to a mature student or somebody looking to reskill or upskill while holding down a job. It is true that at the moment you cannot access the SUSI student grant scheme for part-time education. It is a finding of the review that we need to make it available for part-time students and this is something we will now work to progress. I need to be honest that there is a little bit of work to do around this. What defines part-time? We need to be quite clear on that in setting out the criteria. In addition to that, we will also be bringing the new national access plan to Government, probably at the end of this month. This plan will look at how we can ensure more students from a whole variety of backgrounds, including students with a disability, can access education. Again, that will be an opportunity for us to consider it in that context.

To be helpful, I want to refer to three things that might be of assistance because the Senator referenced the issue of young carers. If I can take that issue even more broadly, she mentioned that these people might be working for a period of time and perhaps because of that they do not qualify for SUSI. We had a debate in this House very recently on the need to increase the income disregard. A student is allowed earn €4,500 and have it not counted towards their income for the purpose of SUSI. That is too low. It is particularly so in the context of the cost-of-living crisis and inflation. I am happy to inform the Senator and the House that I intend to seek Government approval to increase that limit in the first instance. That will be step 1. Step 2 is that I would also like to see that limit be allowed apply during term time as well. That would definitely benefit the young carers she references.

The Senator mentioned a student with autism. While I am committed to ensuring we reform SUSI, I am conscious this is happening in real time for people and the supports available today are two schemes that provide financial assistance to part-time students. One is the fund for students with disability. This is open, as I said, to part-time students up to level 10, or doctoral level, and can provide funding to support and accommodate a student with assistive technology, personal assistance, academic or learning support or transport support. That is one fund available. The second is the student assistance fund. As a Government, we put €18.5 million into that. That is also available for students in part-time education, including masters students. That can be used to assist people with financial difficulties while attending third level. It can be used for rent, childcare costs, transport costs, books and class materials, food, etc. There is a list of criteria. I say that to outline what could be of immediate assistance, while fully accepting we need to reform SUSI, that we will do so and that part-time is a big part of this as is the income disregard.