John Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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259. To ask the Minister for Social Protection his plans to reverse the decision to means test persons receiving back to education allowance, which was implemented in April 2016 without any notification given to students; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29389/16]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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The student universal support Ireland (SUSI) grant - payable by the Department of Education and Skills - represents the primary support for persons pursuing education.

The Back to Education Allowance (BTEA) enables social welfare customers to pursue full-time education courses and to continue to receive income support. It replaces the customer’s qualifying payment and reflects the rate of payment they would receive on their qualifying scheme.

The 2016/2017 changes were introduced for new applicants only. The provision ensures that the rate of payment is equal to that received by all customers on the primary scheme of entitlement. In general, most students will also have certain registration and related college fees paid by SUSI.

There are no plans to reverse the BTEA changes as the overall priority for my Department is to ensure that the BTEA scheme is focused, targeted and directed at those who most need support.