Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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526. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if his attention had been drawn to the taxable nature of the €250 SUSI rebate given in November 2020; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5165/21]

Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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529. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if he will publish his correspondence with the Revenue Commissioners on the taxable nature of the €250 SUSI rebate payment he authorised in November 2019. [5168/21]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 526 and 529 together.

As the Deputy will appreciate, while the operation of support measures for third level students is a function of this Department, tax matters are a function of the Revenue Commissioners.

The scheme ensures students who avail of the Student Universal Support Ireland (SUSI) grant, including students studying abroad, will receive €250 top-up in their grant. The €250 grant is available automatically to everyone in full time third level education, including PLC courses, who avails of SUSI supports. Nearly 72,000 students received their top-up before Christmas. In some cases the payment will be made to registered students early this year, for example, if bank details were not submitted in time or if college registration is yet to be confirmed. There is no need to apply for it, and SUSI will be in touch with students.

Students who do not avail of the grant but attend publicly funded Higher Education Institutions under the aegis of the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science in the State can reduce by €250 any outstanding contribution fee payments or receive a €250 credit note for their institution. There is no need for students to apply for this funding and it is the intention that all students will have been contacted by their institution before the end of February.

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

SUSI payments, including this once-off additional €250 payment, are specifically exempt from tax.

The Revenue Commissioners have advised the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science that the non-SUSI credit/payment is income for tax purposes but would not give rise to a tax liability for the majority of full-time students.

The Covid Student Assistance Fund will provide financial assistance to all eligible full time third level students in recognition in recognition of the significant upheaval they have experienced due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the options are designed to ensure students who are not in receipt of SUSI will benefit from the measure.

This measure builds on the specific student supports in response to Covid, which I announced in July including the provision of additional student assistance including a doubling of the Student Assistance Fund, and a €15 million technology fund for devices for students in further and higher education to assist with difficulties in accessing technology to facilitate their course work in a blended capacity. These supports are being distributed through the colleges and further education providers.

Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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527. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of students that drew down the €250 SUSI rebate by county and educational institution. [5166/21]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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In recognition of the challenges facing full time third level students, financial assistance will be provided in academic year 2020/21 to all students who avail of SUSI grants and to all 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 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, as outlined above, 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.

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. SUSI and Higher education institutions are in the process of communicating with students on the specific arrangements for disbursement of funds/credits. 

To date, over 72,000 students have received their €250 through their SUSI payment. There are still a small number of SUSI grant holders to be paid; these would include late applicants, persons in the appeals process and/or persons who have not provided bank details to facilitate payment. SUSI has a number of additional payment dates planned to capture the last few remaining students. The details of their payment plan can be found at the following link:

Higher education providers have completed or are in the process of completing the allocation to students. Details of students numbers will be available upon completion of the process by the institutions. The Department has requested that institutions provide any outstanding credits in a timely manner before 28 February 2021. In a small number of cases where a credit cannot be applied a payment may be facilitated at the discretion of the institution.

Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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528. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if the €250 SUSI rebate will be considered income for SUSI applications for the 2021-2022 academic year. [5167/21]

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

The funding, which was provided in Budget 2021, in recognition of the significant upheaval they have experienced due to the COVID-19 pandemic will offer financial assistance to all EU full-time undergraduate and postgraduate students attending publicly funded Higher Education Institutions (HEI).

The statutory based Student Grant Scheme and Student Support Regulations are reviewed annually by my Department, following consultation with various stakeholders. The treatment of the COVID-19 Once- off Emergency Grant will be considered in the context of the review of the 2021 Scheme.

The Student Grant Scheme and Student Support Regulations for the 2021/22 academic year, will be published towards the end of March/early April 2021. The opening of SUSI's online grant application system will coincide with the publication of the scheme.