Paul Connaughton (Galway East, Fine Gael)
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47. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the reason when details from an accountant are sufficient for the Revenue Commissioners, such details provided by an accountant regarding the amounts and times a particular employee was paid are not sufficient in terms of proving holiday earnings for students under the Student Universal Support Ireland grant scheme; if his attention has been drawn to the difficulty facing students in providing all payslips from 2012 holiday earnings when they were not aware at the time that the payslips would be needed at a later date; if his is further attention has been drawn to the difficulty that this requirement is placing on small businesses and which could be a disincentive to providing holiday employment for future third level students; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [52009/13]

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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The assessment of means under my Department 's student grant scheme is based on gross income from all sources of the applicant and his/her parent(s)/legal guardian, where applicable, with certain social welfare and health service executive payments being exempt.

It is necessary, therefore, that information regarding all income, including that from after school/weekend employment, is accounted for when completing the grant application form. However, in the assessment of means, allowance is made for "holiday earnings" on the part of the applicant and accordingly a deduction is allowed for reasonable holiday earnings i.e. income earned by the applicant from employment outside of term time but within the reference period.

I am informed by Student Universal Support Ireland (SUSI) that as a result of their data sharing facility with the Revenue Commissioners they now receive data on any applicant earnings as part of the household income.

I am informed by SUSI that only where the applicants earnings would take the household income above a threshold level for a grant that SUSI actually request confirmation, via the applicant, of the amounts earned in the relevant periods in order to reduce the household income and consequently consider that applicant for a grant. Evidence of the amount earned can be provided in the form of payslips for the term time periods or confirmation P35 listings from the employer covering the earnings for the relevant period.