Mairéad Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein)
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2633.To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the estimated cost of increasing the maximum amount available for the postgraduate tuition grant to become €8,000 per year; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33103/24]

Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick County, Fine Gael)
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As part of the Government's Budget 2024 cost of living measures, Post Graduate Students who met the eligibility criteria for a Postgraduate Fee Contribution Grant benefited from a once off increase in this grant of €1,000 from €4,000 to €5,000 during the 2023/24 academic year.

Maintenance grants for all postgraduate students are being re-introduced from September 2024 for the first time since the financial crash with a pro-rata effect from January 2024. Postgraduate students who already got a maintenance grant at the special rate previously have also benefitted from maintenance grant increases. The restoration of maintenance to Postgraduate students builds on positive changes to the Postgraduate Fee Contribution in the last number of budgets and is a really important step in helping students continue their educational journey.

In advance of Budget 2025 this autumn, I will be publishing an options paper which will set out various possible measures to address the cost of education. I am doing this in order to facilitate public discussion on the various choices available to amend student supports. I will have regard to the postgraduate fee contribution when making proposals in the context of budget discussions.

Mairéad Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein)
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2634.To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the estimated cost for changing the current dependent children rates (details supplied) with the current model proposed change; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33104/24]

Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick County, Fine Gael)
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The student maintenance grant is a contribution towards the living costs of a student with incremental allowances towards reckonable income where there are 4 or more dependent children.

The estimated cost of reducing the categories of dependants as outlined by the Deputy above is in the range of €13m to €14m. It is estimated this could affect approximately 8,000 to 8,500 students.

In advance of Budget 2025 this autumn, I will be publishing an options paper which will set out various possible measures to address the cost of education. I am doing this in order to facilitate public discussion on the various choices available to amend student supports. I will have regard to various options when making proposals in the context of budget discussions.