Charlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail)
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To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of Student Universal Support Ireland applicants that were informed they were awarded maintenance grants or fees only to find out later that they were awarded in error resulting in the withdrawal of their offer; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4642/13]

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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The position as provided to my Department by Student Universal Support Ireland (SUSI) is that as at 29th January 2013, 33 applicants were awarded a student grant, issued a grant award letter and subsequently refused a grant. The Deputy will appreciate that in the context of SUSI having received in excess of 67,000 applications that some errors may inevitably arise when handling a high volume of applications within a relatively short timeframe.

SUSI have quality assurance measures in place which monitors on an on-going basis whether applications are being assessed correctly and in accordance with the terms of the Student Grant Scheme 2012 and the Student Support Regulations 2012. A quality assurance team performs regular reviews on application outcomes. This may result in a change of decision and these instances are regrettable. The quality assurance measures are in place in order to identify, reduce and eliminate errors in the administration by SUSI of the Student Grant Scheme.