Carol Nolan (Laois-Offaly, Independent)
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800. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills when he expects the new UCC dental school project to begin construction; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10298/24]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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UCC is an autonomous body established under statute. As an autonomous body, it is a matter for UCC to prioritise its capital projects accordingly and the expenditure of the University’s income (public and private) is a matter for the individual institution and this includes responsibility for ensuring appropriate policies and procedures are in place to oversee the use of its resources.

In terms of prioritisation, there have been two rounds of capital funding made available to Higher Level Institutions under the Higher Education Strategic Investment Fund (HESIF) in recent years. Each institute was permitted to submit one project per funding round under HESIF. UCC chose to lodge applications for the Business School and for an upgrade to the Kane Building, both of which have been successful and have received €50 million in direct exchequer funding from this Department.

The Higher Education Authority recently undertook an Expressions of Interest (EOI) process to identify options for developing substantial medium-term additional capacity in a range of priority healthcare disciplines including Dentistry. In June 2023 the Minister for Health and I announced details of the potential options identified under this process. I continue to engage closely on this matter with Government colleagues to advance the process, with investment to be considered in the context of the ongoing review of Departmental National Development Plan allocations to 2030.

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Under the terms of the Student Grant Scheme, grant assistance is awarded to students attending an approved course in an approved institution who meet the prescribed conditions of funding, including those relating to nationality, residency, progression, previous academic attainment and means.

The decision on eligibility for a student grant is a matter, in the first instance, for the centralised student grant awarding authority SUSI (Student Universal Support Ireland) to determine.

To satisfy the terms and conditions of the scheme in relation to progression, a student must be moving from year to year within a course, having successfully completed the previous year or be transferring from one course to another where the award for the subsequent course is of a higher level than the previous course.

Generally speaking, a grant will not be paid to a student for a repeat period of study on the same course, or for a different course at the same level, irrespective of whether or not a grant was paid previously. The objective of this policy is to help as many students as possible to obtain one qualification at each level of study.

Notwithstanding this, under Article 15(8) of the Student Grant Scheme 2023, the awarding authority SUSI has discretion to award a grant for a repeat period of study in exceptional circumstances, such as serious certified illness, which impacted on a student completing a particular period of study or undertaking exams in line with guidelines drawn up by the Minister.

SUSI treats each application for repeat funding on a case-by-case basis and it is it is a matter for the individual student to demonstrate to the satisfaction of the awarding authority that there were exceptional circumstances.

My officials have advised me that the student referred to by the Deputy applied to SUSI having previously attended years 1 and 2 of a level 8 course in the 2020/2021 and 2021/2022 academic years The student is now enrolled in year 1 of a different level 8 course in the 2023/2024 academic year.

A letter was sent to the student by SUSI on 27th September 2023 advising that their application had been refused and that they would be required to complete an equivalent period of study before being eligible for student grant funding.

If the applicant feels that they could not complete their previous course due to exceptional circumstances, they can contact the SUSI Support Desk by emailing support@susi.ie and request an Internal Review of their application on these grounds.