Brian O'Shea (Waterford, Labour)
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Question 321: To ask the Minister for Education and Science if money received by persons on the maturing of their investment under the SSIA scheme will be assessed as means in regard to their own entitlement or the entitlement of their off spring in regard to eligibility for third level grants; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [2713/05]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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For the purposes of determining grant eligibility, all investments must be declared, including savings certificates, life assurance bonds and other financial instruments where the interest or profit is accumulated and paid out as a lump sum at the end of the investment period. The amount of income to be included in respect of special savings incentive accounts, SSIAs, is the government grant earned on the savings in the relevant tax year plus, in the case of savings accounts, the gross interest earned in the relevant tax year and, in the case of investment accounts, the investment profit earned in the relevant tax year. Investment losses sustained in the relevant tax year are deductible.

The treatment of the SSIAs in this regard is consistent with the treatment of similar financial products such as post office savings bonds.