Seán Canney (Galway East, Independent)
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59. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if he will consider amending the SUSI terms and conditions to ensure that students whose parents were working and became ill and accessed illness benefit are not discriminated against in the system, in that if the household income is low enough, they will be able to access the special rate of grant aid; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2878/23]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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The special rate of grant in the student support scheme has, as a matter of long-standing policy, been targeted at applicants who are the dependents of people receiving long-term welfare payments, where the relevant eligibility criteria are met.

This policy position was first articulated by the 2001 McNamara report which considered how to target resources most effectively to support access to higher education. The rationale for the special rate is that it is targeted at those who are "most in need", which the report identified as child dependents of people receiving long-term social welfare payments, where other necessary conditions are fulfilled. The review of the student grant scheme found that around 30% of SUSI recipients over the five years previous to the report were in receipt of the special rate.

These criteria are aligned with the Department of Social Protection's schemes. In this regard, Illness Benefit is defined by that Department as a short-term payment for insured people who cannot work due to illness. This is why it is not included as an eligible payment for the purposes of the special rate of maintenance grant.

Depending on the individual's circumstances it may be appropriate for them to have their welfare payment reviewed by the Department of Social Protection. It may be established that an alternative long-term payment should be awarded, such as Disability Allowance or Invalidity Pension. Both of these payments are eligible payments for the purposes of the special rate of grant. In such circumstances, the application of the person in question may be reviewed by SUSI under the change of circumstances provision of the Student Grant Scheme.