Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Solidarity)
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91. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the estimated cost of exempting refugees and asylum seekers from the three year residency requirement to avail of SUSI grants; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27188/18]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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To be eligible for a grant, a "student", as defined in Section 14 of the Student Support Act 2011, must demonstrate that he/she has been resident in the State for at least 3 years out of the 5 year period ending on the day before the start of his/her approved course of study.

It is possible for students, who did not meet the residency requirement at the commencement of their studies, to have their eligibility reviewed if they meet the residency requirement during the course of their studies.

It is not possible to cost a proposal to exempt refugees and asylum seekers from the residency requirement of three out of five years. Reducing the residency requirement will attract additional students, who currently don’t apply to SUSI. As such, it is difficult to predict what the impact of such a change would be.