Kathleen Funchion (Carlow-Kilkenny, Sinn Fein)
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80. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the reason the participation of a parent in schemes such as Turas Nua is not considered as an eligible payment towards a dependant's special rate of maintenance grant application when applying for this grant. [39949/17]

John Halligan (Waterford, Independent)
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The qualifying criteria for the special rate of maintenance grant is as follows:

1. The student must qualify for the standard rate of grant;

2. Total reckonable income, after income disregards and Child Dependant Increase(s) are excluded, must not exceed €23,000; and

3. As at 31st December 2016, the reckonable income must include one of the eligible long-term social welfare payments prescribed in Schedule 2 of the Student Grant Scheme.

I understand that Turas Nua is one of two providers contracted by the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection, to provide employment services to people who are long-term unemployed. As Turas Nua is not a specified long-term payment, it cannot be considered as an eligible payment under the Student Grant Scheme.

The decision on eligibility for a student grant is a matter for the relevant grant awarding authority. Under the terms of the student grant scheme, grant assistance is awarded to students who meet the prescribed conditions of funding, including those relating to nationality, residency, previous academic attainment and means.

If an individual applicant considers that she/he has been unjustly refused a student grant on the grounds of his/her initial classification as an independent or dependent student, she/he may appeal, in the first instance, to SUSI. Where an individual applicant has had an appeal turned down in writing by SUSI and remains of the view that the scheme has not been interpreted correctly in his/her case, an appeal, outlining the position may be submitted by the applicant to the independent Student Grants Appeals Board at www.studentgrantappeals.ie within the required timeframe.