Aontú rep and NUIG student Silke calls for reform of SUSI scheme

By Paddy Henry

Aontú representative for Tuam, NUI Galway student Luke Silke, has called for an immediate update from Minister Simon Harris regarding plans for reform of the SUSI grant scheme.

Following the release of documents from the Department of Further and Higher Education obtained by the party under the Freedom of Information Act it was revealed that students whose parents have died, students who are homeless and students who are single parents had been refused SUSI grant payments and wrote to the Minister about their situation.

Third – Year student Silke, a Parliamentary assistant to Aontú leader Peadar Toibín said that the emails make for “sad” reading;

“I’ve read all of these emails which the Department have released to us and they make for sad reading. I knew the situation was bad, but the knowledge that homeless students or students whose parents are dead are being refused assistance is just incredible.

Among the emails, seen by SIN was testament from a student who cares for his father suffering from Dementia and Parkinsons’ Disease while himself suf-

“I’m aware of cases where a number of siblings from the same house applied for the grant – some qualified, some didn’t – this doesn’t make sense, all the variables are the same – distance from the college, parental income, etc.

fering from a chronic respiratory illness who had application to SUSI was refused on the grounds that the course they had applied for was listed as an online course.

The release of these emails follows the withdrawal of funding for 2,050 students who had additionally qualified for the SUSI grant scheme last summer, 154 of which were from Galway.

Tuam native Silke highlighted the need for reform of the SUSI scheme and criticised the government for not understanding the urgency of the matter at hand; “SUSI needs to be reformed, and the government accepts this, but they don’t seem to understand the urgency here. There is something deeply wrong with the system if homeless students are being refused assistance. I’m aware of cases where a number of siblings from the same house applied for the grant – some qualified, some didn’t – this doesn’t make sense, all the variables are the same – distance from the college, parental income, etc. Most cruel is the red tape thrown in the paths of students who are estranged from their parents – the lengths these students must go to in order to prove estrangement are inhumane. The process, I believe, involves Gardaí and solicitors letters” he stated.

Silke criticised the SUSI scheme for what he described as the aggressive withdrawal of funding from struggling students and said that many students are being “left behind” due to flaws in the system;

“There are many students who are being refused a grant because they’re repeating the year, or because they have dropped out of a previous course and changed University. These students are deemed by the system to be ‘not progressing in education’ and are refused funding. In cases where SUSI are withdrawing funding, from over 200 of those students they are seeking repayments – in a manner which I can only describe as aggressive. The system does not take into consideration this year’s income, only the previous years’. Given this flaw, many people who are struggling at the moment are being left behind “, concluded Silke.

Threshold welcomes Student accommodation Bill

Paddy Henry

Housing charity Threshold has welcomed a Bill put before the Dáil last week, which they claim will have a “transformative” effect on the student accommodation sector.

The Residential Tenancies (Student Rents and Other Protections) (Covid-19) Bill 2021 proposes a number of protections for students in relation to housing including a requirement for landlords to refund rent to students in purposebuilt student accommodation if they are unable to occupy their accommodation due to public health advice, limits to rental payments in student accommodation to one payment a month, meaning a landlord can no longer charge several months rent upfront and an allowance for students in purpose built accommodation to issue their landlord with a notice of termination, in accordance with the required notice period of 28 days should they wish to end their tenancy.

The Bill which is currently in before the Dáil was drafted with the involvement of the Union of Student Ireland (USI) and Threshold and was sponsored by representatives from Sinn Féin, Labour, the Green Party and People Before Profit and has been signed by 56 opposition TDs.

Sinn Féin spokesperson on Further and Higher Education urged the government to support the Bill and said that students and families were being put under severe financial pressure by accommodation providers;

“There’s three reasons this Bill is really important. The first is with the notice of termination , if this Bill passes through, a student can terminate the agreement in 28 days for purpose built student accommodation and that’s really important. There’s no reason why student renters should be treated in a different way to other renters. But it also allows for the prompt refunding of accommodation fees if the accommodation isn’t taken up or vacated due to public health reasons as we saw last year. It also recognises that many student accommodation providers look for rent to be paid a full term in advance, and that put severe financial pressure on students and on families as well.”

The Mayo TD also warned against the Bill, which has reached committee stage getting delayed in the Parliamentary process telling SIN that “Justice delayed is justice denied”.

“It’s great that this has gone to committee stage, but we see in many pieces of legislation that they go to committee stage and then they get held up from there, so we need to make absolutely certain that committee stage is done effectively, efficiently, and timely so that this legislation is brought in before students start to book accommodation again. Justice delayed is justice denied and all the TikToks in the world aren’t going to help students when they are being robbed on the other hand. Students wanted to be treated fairly, they want fairness and they want equity. “

CEO of Threshold, John-Mark McCafferty described it as “ludicrous” that students should be expected to pay for homes that they are not living in and said that this Bill rectifies this issue;

“Our advisors saw students and their families hit very hard when many accommodation providers refused to return rents at the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. It seems ludicrous that students should be out by thousands of Euro, forced to pay for homes they cannot not live in. This Bill rectifies this situation.

“The portion of the Bill which prevents landlords from requesting more than one month’s rent at a time will be transformative for the student accommodation sector as a whole. Many students have been put in impossible situations where it is demanded that they pay anywhere between two and six months’ rent upfront – this adds unnecessary stress during what is already a time of great upheaval and change. We are hopeful that the Bill will be passed and that these positive changes can take effect very soon.” he continued.