Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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175. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the reason a person (details supplied) has been refused a SUSI grant; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35476/20]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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As part of a comprehensive customer service and communications strategy provided by Student Universal Support Ireland (SUSI), to ensure that all necessary avenues are open to applicants to receive the information they need, a dedicated email and phone line service is provided by SUSI for Oireachtas members. This was established to meet an identified need for applicants who choose to engage the assistance of their public representatives in making enquiries about their grant applications.

This service, which was set up at the behest of Oireachtas members, complements the established channels provided by SUSI which include online application tracking, a dedicated website, a telephone helpdesk, email and social media, including Facebook and Twitter. Enquiries may be emailed direct to SUSI at oireachtas@susi.ie. Staff in SUSI are responding to email queries within a matter of days.

With regard to the specific application, I have been advised by my officials that the student in question submitted an application to SUSI as a mature independent student in July 2020. The application was cancelled in August as the applicant was under 23 at her first point of entry into Higher Education and does not have a 3 year break in studies to be reclassified as a Mature Independent student. The student in question then re-applied as a mature dependent student in October 2020. The application has been assessed and a checklist letter was sent 20/10/2020 requesting additional documents. No documents have been received to date by SUSI.