Seymour Crawford (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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Question 552: To ask the Minister for Education and Science if the benefits of the SSIAs are being taken into account for third level education grants; if so, her views on whether this is fair as they are not being taken into account for non-contributory pensions and so on; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [35270/06]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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I want to assure the Deputy that the Government is determined to ensure that SSIA savers are treated fairly in the calculation of reckonable income under my Department's maintenance grant schemes. This is being achieved in two ways. Firstly, income from SSIAs is being treated exactly the same as income from similar savings and investment products; and secondly, the reckonable income limits for student grants have been increased considerably in recent years.

Since SSIAs were introduced, the amount of income to be included in respect of them 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 same position has long applied to interest earned on other savings products, including deposit accounts, post office savings certificates, life assurance bonds etc. The treatment of SSIAs is therefore consistent with the traditional treatment of other similar investments over many years. The Department of Finance is aware of this approach to the assessment of income for eligibility for student support.

So, in applying for a grant for the 2006/07 academic year, only the relevant income earned, as outlined above, on the SSIA in 2005 has to be declared. The maximum that the Government grant to any SSIA saver could have amounted to last year, as in any year of the SSIA scheme, is €762. As I have pointed out in response to previous queries and PQs this has been the position since SSIAs were introduced.