The case of the student, referred to by the Deputy, was recently forwarded to my Department by Waterford County Council for guidance regarding the assessment of reckonable income.
Under the terms of the third level student support schemes, a candidate's reckonable income for the purposes of the means test is his or her gross income from all sources and the gross income of his/her parents or guardians where applicable, with certain specified social welfare and health board payments, as follows, being exempt: child benefit; family income supplement; disability allowance, where paid to the candidate; blind pension, where paid to the candidate; means-tested one parent family payments; orphan's pensions; back to education allowance; foster care allowance; domiciliary care allowance and carer's allowance.
According to the Department of Social, Community and Family Affairs, the one parent family payment, referred to above, is a means tested payment for both men and women who, for a variety of reasons, are bringing up a child, or children, without the support of a partner. A person who is unmarried or widowed, is eligible to apply for this payment.