John Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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587. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the arrangements in place for students not in receipt of a SUSI grant residing in the State and studying in Northern Ireland to receive the €250 Covid-19 payment; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3917/21]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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In recognition of the challenges facing full time third level students the Government has approved once off funding of €50m to provide additional financial assistance in this academic year.

The funding was provided in Budget 2021, in recognition of the exceptional situation they have experienced due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Financial assistance will be provided to all SUSI eligible students and to EU full-time undergraduate and postgraduate students attending publicly funded Higher Education Institutions in the state.

The scheme will ensure students;

- Who avail of the SUSI grant, including students abroad, will receive €250 top-up in their grant;

- Students who do not avail of the grant but attend publicly funded Higher Education Institutions in the state can reduce by €250 any outstanding student contribution fee payments or receive a €250 credit note for their institution;

- In a small number of cases, alternative arrangements will be made for the payment of the monies to students at the discretion of institutions.

The latter two options are designed to ensure students who are not in receipt of SUSI benefit from the measure. It is also the intention that these address circumstances where students are in final year, have paid their contribution fee and may not be on campus.

Irish/EU/EEA students partaking in courses in other countries who are in receipt of SUSI support are eligible for the payment if they are attending approved SUSI courses in approved higher education institutions within the EU. However other EU fulltime students outside of the SUSI system must be registered in a publicly funded higher education provider in the State to avail of this allocation.

In terms of other Irish nationals studying abroad, the provision of supports to Irish citizens based on nationality alone with the exclusion of other EU nationals would be contrary to EU law. It is therefore not possible to provide supports based on Irish citizenship alone. Instead the measure applies to all of these qualifying for SUSI grants, wherever they are studying and those of EU nationality at publicly funded higher education institutions in the State. Additionally a key administrative feature of the fund is that it is being implemented with the assistance of publicly funded institutions in the State under the remit of my Department.

The main support available to assist students with the cost of higher education is the Student Grant Scheme. Students attending approved undergraduate courses in Northern Ireland can apply for a maintenance grant provided they meet the terms and conditions of the Student Grant Scheme. There is also a special derogation contained within the Student Support Act 2011 which provides supports for postgraduate students attending courses in Northern Ireland. Such students may be eligible for assistance towards their postgraduate fees up to the maximum fees limit of €6,270 or a Postgraduate Fee Contribution of €2,000 subject to satisfying the terms and conditions of the Student Grant Scheme 2020. There is no other provision under the student grant scheme for the payment of fees to students studying outside of the State.

Tax relief at the standard rate of tax may be claimed in respect of tuition fees paid for certain approved courses at approved colleges of higher education including approved undergraduate and postgraduate courses in EU Member States and in non-EU countries. Further information on this tax relief is available from the Revenue Commissioners on www.revenue.ie.

Students may also wish to contact the relevant college in Northern Ireland for advice on the type and range of supports that are available in that particular college.