Eoin Hayes (Dublin Bay South, Social Democrats)
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601. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if he intends to expand the SUSI grant system to returning immigrants, asylum seekers, migrants, those who are undocumented and those in direct provision and whether his Department knows what the cost would be for the residency criteria to be removed to enable that access; if he will share these costs; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22777/25]

James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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The main support available to students is the statutory based Student Grant Scheme which is administered by SUSI (Student Universal Support Ireland). 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, previous academic attainment and means.

In terms of residency, to be eligible for a grant, you must demonstrate that you have been resident in the Irish State, the EU, EEA, UK or Swiss Federation for three of the last five years on the day before the start of an approved course of study. There are no exemptions to this residency rule. It applies to all applicants including Irish people returning from abroad to undertake studies in Ireland. The nationality requirements for the Student Grant Scheme are set out in Section 14 of the Student Support Act 2011 and Regulation 5 of the Student Support Regulations 2025. Similar and in some cases more restrictive residency criteria apply in other member States e.g. in the UK a student has to be resident for the three years immediately preceding his/her commencement in college.

It is also possible for students, who did not meet the residency requirement at the commencement of their studies, to have their eligibility reviewed if they meet the residency requirement during the course of their studies.

Alternatively, a tuition student who meets the residency requirement in a Member State, the EEA or Switzerland and satisfies the nationality requirements may be eligible for a fee grant. There are currently no plans to extend beyond the current eligibility criteria and the Student Grant Scheme for 2025 has been published.

In terms of supports for asylum seekers, migrants, those who are undocumented, and those in direct provision, my Department introduced the International Protection Student (IPS) Scheme in 2015. This Scheme is targeted at three particular groups of students (international protection applicants, subsidiary protection applicants and leave to remain applicants) who are pursuing an approved post leaving certificate course or an approved undergraduate or postgraduate course. Such students cannot access the Student Grant Scheme because they do not have leave to remain in the State. The IPS Scheme largely mirrors the Student Grant Scheme and includes a means test and residency criteria.

The Deputy may also wish to note that in the Student Support Regulations 2025 provision has been made for the first time for the following groups of people:

• a person who has been granted permission to reside in the State by the Minister for Justice on the basis that he or she is a parent of an Irish citizen child, as supported inter alia by the issuance of a Stamp 4.
• a person who has been granted permission to reside in the State by the Minister for Justice under the Long-Term Undocumented Migrants Scheme. [Strand 2 Applicants to this scheme, persons who were a granted residence permission under the International Protection Regularisation Scheme, were included in the 2024 Student Support Regulations].