Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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1178. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills further to Parliamentary Question No. 1161 of 12 November 2025, the reason for the fall in the student assistance fund provided by his Department from €8,823,432 for the academic year 2023-2024 to €3,812,601 for 2025-2026 to the five technological universities; if he intends to provide additional student assistance funding to the Higher Education Authority for the remainder of the current academic year; and if so, if he can he provide the additional allocations for each of the five technological universities, in tabular form. [63741/25]

James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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Significant investment has been provided to the Student Assistance Fund (SAF) over the last number of years to help support students who required assistance due to Covid-19 and under the cost of living packages which were provided to assist with rising cost of living.?This has lead to a considerable increase in the amount of SAF allocated to the Technological Universities in 2023/24.

The 2025/2026 core funding allocation of €9.1 million for this vital Fund is the same as previous years, and we continue to monitor the fund, with respect to demand as the academic year progresses.

I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.