2026-01-29

85. Deputy Jen Cummins asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science his plans to support students that are estranged from family, to access SUSI and other supports on campuses. [7275/26]

I would like to discuss a sensitive issue with the Minister. How is he planning to support students who are estranged from their parents? How can such students access SUSI grants and other supports on campus? A number of students who are in quite challenging situations due to estrangement from their parents have contacted me. Their circumstances leave them financially vulnerable and potentially prevent them accessing third level education. The current system is bureaucratic and difficult to navigate. Sometimes the systems are seen, not the people.

This is a difficult issue, and it is one that I have engaged with the students unions on. I have also spoken to my officials about it on a number of occasions. If students are living with their parents, there is a working assumption in the system that they are being supported by their parents to some extent at least. Perhaps that support is not through direct funds. Rather, it comes in the form of accommodation, meals and so on. These are the supports that we would normally expect within a family environment. How can we fairly and reasonably, with a view to prudence with taxpayer's money, correctly identify the student who may be still living in the family home and still having meals at the family table but who is not dependent on his or her parents or is estranged from them? That is not an easy one, and I am very mindful of the need to support any students who find themselves estranged from their parents. I have had individual representations made to me by Members in that regard. How do we ensure that we do not broaden support too wide such that every student suddenly becomes eligible? Effectively, we would see the millions of euro in student supports referred to by Deputy McGettigan mushroom into several billion. It is a difficult one to get right. Having said, a number of the measures that I introduced in the last budget do not actually involve a means test. The €500 permanent reduction in fees, for example, does not require any means testing. There are a number of other benefits available such as the student assistance fund, which now stands at €19.3 million, an historical high. That funding did not even exist until recent years. I increased it again in the latest budget. There are a number of discretionary measures and in many cases they are not means tested, so the estrangement issue does not apply, but I get that it is difficult. I am continuing to engage with student unions on this. If it is any comfort, although I know it is of no comfort in the individual cases, it is a very small percentage of applicants, a couple of percent, who are refused for reasons of estrangement not being proven. I might come back to the detail in the supplementary response but that is a general observation.

The number of people involved is not huge. I accept that in cases where people might be taking advantage of that potential, it would have to be ruled out because we have to protect taxpayers' money. However, I am focused on the small number of people who are estranged from their parents, for whatever reason. There has to be a trauma-informed mechanism in our education system and through the SUSI grant to support those students. What I mean by that is, if you are estranged from your parents, something awful has happened. I am aware of students who live in the same household as their parents and their parents have nothing to do with them. AMLÉ, formerly the Union of Students in Ireland, has made a number of suggestions to simplify proof of estrangement. The system still needs to be robust and broader reforms need to be brought in.

The trauma-informed view is extremely important. Having chaired the justice committee in the previous term, we saw many examples of trauma and how it led into addiction and triggered a certain path in life. I fully support a trauma-informed approach. It is one of the reasons I committed additional funding to the mental health budget in higher education institutions this year. On mature students, to recap the rules, a student can be assessed as independent if they have reached the age of 23 on 1 January of the year they start and have not been ordinarily resident with their parents from the previous October. As such, if a student is outside the home and is aged 23 years or over, they can apply. For the avoidance of doubt, there is an estrangement option within the SUSI system. Applicants can declare on their application form that they are irreconcilably estranged and a specialist team works on those applications. Sometimes student unions and others will say this or that document was not accepted. I am told there is no prescriptive set of documents. It is case by case; it is discretionary. It may be a court order, although it does not have to be, a letter or a form.

We hear from students and groups who support them that the current system cumulatively creates hardships for those students. It is bureaucratic and burdensome. The proof requirements are narrow and assumptions about family supports perhaps do not match the student's reality. Given that there are so few of these students, could a body be set up to meet these young people and take a trauma-informed approach? I am not talking about the over-23s. I am really talking about finding a way to support those at undergraduate level who have come straight from school and are aged 18, 19, 20 or 21. The SUSI grant is one part but there are other grants. I am happy to see the Minister has put resources into mental health because, as we know, at third level, that is important, as are other aspects of health, for those young people who are estranged and living an independent life at a premature age in terms of what they need. As we know, being in your early 20s is still quite a challenging time for many young people.

I have the figures for those who cited estrangement on their application form. In the 2023-24 year, it was 184 students; in 2024-25, it was 165 students; and in the most recent year, 2025-26, it was 213 students. When I said it was a couple of percent, I exaggerated. It is 0.19% of total applications. However, that makes it even more pertinent that we address it. There might be a tendency to say it is a very small number but if is very small, let us fix it. That is my view. I welcome submissions and inputs. It would be very constructive if the Deputy or AMLÉ or other Members of the House were to share their thoughts on that in a way that protects taxpayers' money, involves a robust process that is fit for purpose and has checks and balances, while ensuring that students who are estranged are supported appropriately.