Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Anti-Austerity Alliance)
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113. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if further education, FE, teacher training students are undertaking a qualification required to teach in FE colleges after 1 April 2013, Teaching Council regulation 5, generally have pre-existing level 8 and level 9 qualifications; if he will review the regulations for the student grant to allow these students to avail of financial supports; if he will backdate financial supports to 1 April 2013 to assist previous students who are struggling financially; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27852/16]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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To satisfy the terms and conditions of the student grant scheme in relation to progression, a student must be moving from year to year within a course, having successfully completed the previous year or be transferring from one course to another, where the award for the subsequent course is of a higher level than the previous course.

The objective of this policy is to help as many students as possible to obtain one qualification at each level of study.

Given the level of demand on the student grant budget from first time students and students that are progressing with their studies to a higher level, it is not possible to make an exception in this case.