Dan Boyle (Cork South Central, Green Party)
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Question 1433: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the reason residence in Northern Ireland is considered a disqualification in applying for student support grants; and if this policy is being reconsidered. [30104/06]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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Under the terms of my Department's four Student Maintenance Grant Schemes, grants are payable to candidates pursuing approved full-time courses who meet prescribed conditions, including those pertaining to nationality, residency, means, age and previous academic attainment.

Under the residency requirement a candidate's parents, or in the case of an independent mature candidate, the candidate herself/himself, must have been resident in the State from the 1st October of the year prior to entry on an approved course.

I have no plans at present to change the residency requirement to include residence of Northern Ireland.