Under the terms of my Department's third level maintenance grants schemes, students who are entering approved courses for the first time are, generally speaking, eligible for grants where they satisfy the relevant conditions as to age, residence, means, nationality and previous academic attainment. Under the nationality clause of the schemes a candidate must either hold EU nationality; or have been granted humanitarian leave to remain in the State; or have permission to remain in the State by virtue of marriage to an Irish national residing in the State, or be the child of such person, not having EU nationality; or have permission to remain in the State by virtue of marriage to a national of another EU member state who is residing in the State and who is or has been employed, or self-employed, in the State, or be the child of such a person, not having EU nationality; or be nationals of a member country of the European Economic Area, EEA.
The grants schemes contain a change in circumstances clause which provides that a candidate's eligibility may be assessed or re-assessed in the event of a change in circumstances in relation to, inter alia, reckonable income, the number of dependent children and normal residence. Following a review of the “change in circumstances” clause in 2002, it was decided to implement a revision in the 2002 grants schemes through the addition of “nationality, where the candidate becomes an Irish national or the national of another EU member state” to the categories of circumstances which would allow for the reassessment of an application, arising from a change in the applicant's circumstances. This revision allows candidates who acquire nationality during the course of their studies to apply to be assessed or re-assessed for grant assistance with effect from the academic term when the change occurs.
With regard to my Department's free fees initiative, under which the State meets the tuition fees for eligible undergraduate students following approved courses, the position is that such fees will be paid in respect of EU nationals who have been ordinarily resident in an EU member state for at least three of the five years preceding their entry to their third-level. Tuition fees will also be paid in respect of EU migrant workers, their children and spouses, regardless of the spouse's nationality. Persons who have been granted official refugee status are subject to the terms and conditions of the free fees initiative.
I consider the conditions of the student support provisions outlined above to be reasonable. Any cost-increasing changes in the grant schemes or the free fees initiative, as suggested by the Deputy, could only be considered in the context of available resources and the demands of other priorities in the education sector.