1249. Deputy Danny Healy-Rae asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science to review the SUSI threshold disregard for students working as the recent increase from €8,424 to €8,830 is not adequate. [35186/26]

Under the Student Grant Scheme, income from employment which represents holiday earnings outside of term time (Easter, summer and Christmas holidays) can be deducted when determining the reckonable income of an applicant. The holiday earnings exemption is being increased from €8,424 to €8,830 for the 2026/27 academic year. The reason for the limit is to mitigate against students working so much during their education that it negatively impacts on their ability to fully participate in their course.

There are also economic considerations. The Student Grant Scheme is reviewed on an annual basis and any improvements are subject to the overall estimates and budgetary process undertaken by all Government Departments having regard to overall resource constraints and other competing demands.

In recent years, my Department has published a number of annual options papers on measures to reduce the cost of education. The most recent paper included a costed option to remove the provision which limits the deduction of holiday earnings to “earnings outside of term time”.  This option was costed in the last year’s paper at between €17m and €26m.

Removing this provision could allow a student’s income exemption limit to be increased in cases where the student earns up to the allowable limit over the course of the year.  In effect this is akin to a very specific income threshold increase for one cohort, namely students with earnings.

I see merit in this approach, however, prioritising such an option may limit the potential to increase overall SUSI income thresholds which would benefit all applicants, including students who are earning.

Budget 2025 increased all thresholds with all standard rate income thresholds increasing by at least 15% in the current academic year. To put this in context: for a family with fewer than four children, standard rate thresholds increased within a range of €6,135 to €15,000. This threshold increase has provided a universal increase for all household earnings regardless of the source of income (e.g. student earnings and/or income from a parent(s)/spouse(s) where applicable) and benefited families where a parent or spouses income has increased.

I am conscious of reducing the cost of education for students and I was pleased to be in a position in Budget 2026 to permanently reduce the Student Contribution by €500 for free fees eligible students and to increase maintenance grants for non-adjacent grant holders. In addition to this, from September 2026, the income threshold to avail of a €500 Student Contribution Grant will also increase to €120,000.