Jonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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771. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills further to Parliamentary Question No. 501 of 10 March 2015, if the changes to adjacent rules of the grant actually yielded a saving of €30 million; the exact saving that occurred; where moneys saved from this change were re-allocated; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [11343/15]

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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The Deputy will be aware that adjustments of €178m were required to be made in the Education Sector in 2011. As previously advised, a range of budget measures to the student grants have been introduced over a period of years, including those in Budget 2011. The Deputy will also appreciate that the student grant scheme is a demand led scheme and therefore the cohort of students qualifying for grants each year varies; and is influenced by a number of factors. As such, it is difficult to disaggregate year-on-year savings to any one particular measure or to compare like with like in terms of the cohort of students qualifying for grants each year.

The measures taken in respect of student grants in recent years, have enabled the system to respond to increased demands on the student grants system due to the changed economic circumstances. During this time, the number of grant awardees has increased from 69,500 in 2009/10 to 79,000 in 2013/14.