Pat Breen (Clare, Fine Gael)
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242. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if she will review the eligibility for qualification for a special rate-third level grant to facilitate couples (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [38946/14]

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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To qualify for the special rate of grant an applicant must meet the following conditions:

a. Reckonable income must not exceed €22,703. b. On the 31st December of the relevant period the reckonable income must include an eligible long-term social welfare payment prescribed under the scheme.

In the case of a student whose parents are divorced, legally separated or it is established to the satisfaction of the awarding authority that they are separated, the reckonable income shall be that of the applicant and the parent with whom the applicant resides.

The income of a parent's partner who is not a legal guardian is not included in determining reckonable income. Where the reckonable income does not include a long-term social welfare payment, as listed in the Student Grant Scheme, the special rate of grant is not payable.

I have no plans at present to change the criteria in relation to persons whose income is considered in determining reckonable income for student grant purposes.