Anthony Lawlor (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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510. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills with regard to means testing for Student Universal Support Ireland grants, if consideration will be given to an applicant's outgoings as well as income, particularly in cases where it can be proven that a large proportion of an applicant's assessed income is used to serve residual bank debt and failure to secure this grant would cause the applicant undue hardship; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [17822/15]

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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Student grant applications are means tested on gross income from all sources earned inside and outside the State within a specified reference period.

The means test arrangements of the Student Grant Scheme are applied nationally on the same basis to both employed and self-employed applicants. Gross income before the deduction of income tax or universal social charge, is assessed with certain specified social welfare and health service executive payments excluded.

Therefore, the assessment of income from the same starting point is deemed to be fair and reasonable because this approach eliminates any distortion which might arise from different spending decisions in different households.