Education Committee must confront SUSI crisis

In Blog, Education, Young People by Denis Naughten

 

Dear Deputy Tuffy,

I am writing to request that you, in your capacity as Chairperson of the Committee on Education and Social Protection, call an emergency meeting of the Committee to address the current delays faced by students applying to the new Student Universal Support Ireland (SUSI) system. As I am sure you will agree, over the past number of weeks it has become clear that the SUSI system is unable to cope with the volume of applications it has received, and as a result students and their families are suffering without any indication of how long it will be before they receive the grant, if at all.

During the crisis which arose due to the backlog of medical card applications, we on the Committee for Health and Children took a very proactive approach to the problem. I would implore you, and your fellow Committee members, to replicate this by calling representatives of SUSI before an emergency meeting, to demand answers & to outline what actions they are taking to immediately address this chaotic backlog.

I would also encourage the Committee and its members to visit the SUSI offices and see first-hand what is happening on the ground.

Students and their families need answers, not only to individual applications, but also as to why the system has failed and what measures are being taken to address this situation.

Yours sincerely,

Denis Naughten TD