Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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162. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if he will provide an estimate of the number of emails he has received over the past three months from students experiencing difficulties with applying for the SUSI grant. [45190/21]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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The Student Grant Scheme is administered by the centralised national grant awarding authority SUSI (Student Universal Support Ireland), a business unit of CDETB (City of Dublin Education and Training Board), on behalf of the Department. The decision on eligibility for a student grant is a matter for SUSI to determine.

While my office receive many emails from students in relation to the student grant criteria I can confirm that in the past three months my office has received one email from a student who has experienced difficulties applying for the SUSI grant.

I understand from SUSI that they are currently awaiting documentation from the student to support their grant application.

Student Universal Support Ireland operates a complaints procedure to facilitate applicants who may wish to lodge a complaint in connection with the manner in which they have been dealt with by the awarding authority or any of its support staff.

The decision on eligibility for student grant assistance is a matter, in the first instance, for the centralised student grant awarding authority SUSI (Student Universal Support Ireland) to determine. If an individual applicant considers that she/he has been unjustly refused a student grant, or that the rate of grant awarded is not the correct one, 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 may be submitted to the independent Student Grants Appeals Board within the required timeframe.