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Student grants: Barring orders will no longer be accepted as proof that parents are separated

Barring orders were included on a list of acceptable documentation students could use to prove their parents were separated.

BARRING ORDERS ARE to be removed from the Student Universal Support Ireland (SUSI) indicative list of documents used to confirm whether parents of a student are divorced or separated.

A letter from the Secretary General of the Department of Education Seán Ó Foghlú confirms that having “reviewed its processes” SUSI has decided to remove barring orders as evidence of proof of separation.

A barring order is a court order usually issued in response to a complaint of domestic violence. It can apply to a person’s spouse or civil partner and requires that the person leave the home.

In the case of a dependent student, the income of the applicant and his or her parents are taken into account in determining whether the student qualifies for a grant.

However, it becomes more difficult when student’s parents are divorced or legally separated.

Concerns were raised previously at the Dáil Public Accounts Committee regarding the evidence SUSI asks from for students involved difficult family situations.

Ó Foghlú sets out in his letter to the PAC that when SUSI had satisfactorily established that parents were separated in any specific case, the income of the student applicant and of the parent who they live with is taken into account.

The type of evidence required is dependent on the applicant’s individual circumstances, states the secretary general, who adds that evidence of separation must be provided to allow SUSI to fully satisfy itself that the conditions for the application are met.

“SUSI, in assessing the evidence presented, will have regard to the particular circumstances in each case and the corroborative nature of the evidence available to support the claim of separation,” he states. 

“Ultimately, it is a matter for SUSI to determine what evidence it will accept as proof of separation. However, the scheme does not stipulate precisely how SUSI satisfies itself.

This is to allow the applicant sufficient flexibility to provide the necessary corroborating evidence and likewise, to give SUSI flexibility in terms of its assessment process in these difficult cases,” says the secretary general.

SUSI provides a list of documents that are considered as evidence of separation, he explains in the letter, stating that “ultimately, the onus is on the grant applicant to provide the necessary documentary evidence to support his/her application”.

Students are required to supply one or more documents to prove that their parents are living separately. 

He goes on to confirm that SUSI has reviewed its processes and has decided to remove barring orders from its list of allowed documents.

The Chair of the PAC, Fianna Fáil’s Sean Fleming, has previously said the committee was “alarmed” to hear SUSI might be looking for details of barring orders, stating that they  come from the family law courts and are not meant to be public. 

While he noted that barring orders are not specifically requested by SUSI, there are concerns about such orders being included in an indicative list the applicant can provide.

He welcomed the news that such documentation is to be removed from the list.

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14 Comments
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    Mute Billy Connelly
    Favourite Billy Connelly
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    Oct 19th 2017, 8:09 PM

    Im at home snuggled by the fire about to have a hot dinner brought into me whilst having a glass of wine. I feel so sad for victim’s of this trafic light debacle….:)

    333
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    Mute Paddy Hayden
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    Oct 19th 2017, 8:44 PM

    @Billy Connelly: I think that’s where the Guards are too . At least they’re aware of the issue .

    108
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    Mute Patabake Kennedy
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    Oct 19th 2017, 8:49 PM

    @Billy Connelly: I say, sitting in this traffic with all those wexford lowlifes peering at my beemer is excruciating. How uncivil of the lower class to even venture onto such an exclusive area as the outstanding N11. How uncouth.

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    Mute thenightmancometh
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    Oct 19th 2017, 9:41 PM

    @Billy Connelly: Its a jake. A total jake.

    11
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    Mute Billy Connelly
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    Oct 19th 2017, 9:48 PM

    @Paddy Hayden: Their monitoring closely

    5
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    Mute Billy Connelly
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    Oct 19th 2017, 10:33 PM

    @Patabake Kennedy: really? Im home, back in my home in Wexford having driven from Dublin 4 in my lovely Skoda. I love watching from my car window all the Audi and Beemers whilst in traffic wondering how the otherside live

    11
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    Mute John Nolan
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    Oct 19th 2017, 8:30 PM

    Have The Guards forgotten how to do traffic point duty.

    109
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    Mute Jamie McCormack
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    Oct 19th 2017, 8:56 PM

    Good point John. It’s still a part of the driving test to know your various signals.

    24
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    Mute Jonathan Power
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    Oct 20th 2017, 12:38 AM

    @John Nolan: there still looking for Noreens phone

    12
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    Mute Fiona deFreyne
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    Oct 19th 2017, 8:08 PM

    It’s chaos in a lot of other areas as well.

    65
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    Mute Theportobello
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    Oct 19th 2017, 8:17 PM

    Is this what passes for a headline on the Journal?

    62
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    Mute Darren Tully
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    Oct 19th 2017, 9:59 PM

    @Theportobello: I think it’s more of a public service anouncement I’m thankful for reports of serious traffic delays that help me avoid them.

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    Mute j4VEpUO8
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    Oct 19th 2017, 9:20 PM

    A Garda station only 20 seconds up the road. God help us!

    54
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    Mute JustOneScoop
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    Oct 19th 2017, 8:13 PM

    The entire day was a ball of crap.. Also thanks to the cars that ran into each other at the Glen of the downs. Kudos for not keeping distance. 2 1/2 hour journey home

    108
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    Mute Joseph Dempsey
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    Oct 19th 2017, 9:20 PM

    Intriguing,it would be helpful if the traffic corps could spend less time tweeting and more time actually managing this mess

    45
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    Mute Sean
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    Oct 19th 2017, 10:18 PM

    @Joseph Dempsey: maybe the tweeting unit tweets and the traffic unit does the traffic?

    18
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    Mute David Huston
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    Oct 19th 2017, 8:19 PM

    Hope some Bemer doesn’t rear end my Audi guys, Right.

    50
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    Mute Del Bear
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    Oct 19th 2017, 8:09 PM

    I just got the bus in from stillorgan to town and it was grand!

    31
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    Mute Stephen Collard
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    Oct 19th 2017, 8:09 PM

    It was a mess all day!!

    40
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    Mute ⚡ Seánie ⚡
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    Oct 19th 2017, 8:32 PM

    FFS. Doing night shift to avoid people, not get stuck in traffic with them.

    41
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    Mute Eoin Kenny
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    Oct 19th 2017, 8:15 PM

    It took me 2 hours to drive from the square Tallaght to bray an absolute nightmare.

    37
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    Mute Nick Allen
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    Oct 19th 2017, 8:22 PM

    @Eoin Kenny:

    Not surprised it took you 2 hrs if you are going from Tallaght to Bray via Donnybrook

    111
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    Mute Eddie O'Neill
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    Oct 19th 2017, 9:40 PM

    @Eoin Kenny: Any relation to that thick country vegetable, Enda Kenny? (only joking with you Eoin, it was a rough day on the roads of Dublin (and Wicklow) ).

    14
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    Mute Reg
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    Oct 19th 2017, 8:08 PM

    Sandymount was the same earlier, backed up from the Merrion Gates to Ringsend. Luckily I was on two wheel…..so long suckers!

    99
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    Mute Dj
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    Oct 19th 2017, 8:17 PM

    @Reg: I’d say your Ringsend is backed up from that saddle!

    90
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    Mute Reg
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    Oct 19th 2017, 8:18 PM

    Regular as clock work DJ!

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    Mute Anthony Halpin
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    Oct 19th 2017, 8:10 PM

    Heard that there’s a powercut in Donnybrook, traffic lights out.

    17
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    Mute Anthony Halpin
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    Oct 19th 2017, 8:13 PM

    @Anthony Halpin: …. just as he sees it in the article …

    22
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    Mute aoife shanahan
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    Oct 19th 2017, 10:58 PM

    It’s extremely dangerous when a junction that has traffic coming from four different directions is left with no signal and not a guard in sight. They’ve been aware of the situation for hours and their only response has been a tweet to avoid the area. This is actually negligent. I hope that a serious accident doesn’t happen!

    17
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    Mute eimsley
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    Oct 19th 2017, 9:55 PM

    EVERY SINGLE DAY IN GALWAY. Every day

    17
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    Mute john g mcgrath
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    Oct 19th 2017, 9:16 PM

    Thousands of Guards in Dublin and we can’t get 2or3 to do point duty at one of The busiest junctions in Dublin.
    To serve and protect my arse!!!

    31
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    Mute j4VEpUO8
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    Oct 19th 2017, 9:22 PM

    @john g mcgrath: ohh they protect alright. We all know who..

    25
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    Mute Matt Connolly
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    Oct 19th 2017, 9:46 PM

    @j4VEpUO8: Did you not hear? They’re replacing the trffic corp with the Communications Corp. They’ll soon be rolling it out across the whole force. You’ll be tweeted where crime is happening so you can stay away, if you don’t and get caught up in it, it’s your own fault for putting yourself in harms way when you’ve been warned.

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    Mute Sean
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    Oct 19th 2017, 10:19 PM

    @john g mcgrath: I’m sorry but why does your arse need protecting?

    1
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    Mute Charlie Melia
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    Oct 20th 2017, 5:11 PM

    @john g mcgrath: Agree totally John. Mainly lazy thugs who don’t want to work in extreme conditions when they are needed most. After my experience with two family members being burgled….. One visit by one Garda who never checked back. Considering one family member was 80 years of age. I thought it was an absolute disgrace.

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    Mute Lad
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    Oct 19th 2017, 9:14 PM

    The outage may have come from storm Brian.. because some young girl said it…

    10
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    Mute Eddie O'Neill
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    Oct 19th 2017, 9:00 PM

    At 6ish traffic out of town was very bad today on the Donnybrook, Leeson St, Ranelagh routes, were the lights out since that time anyone know?

    9
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    Mute SkylineSi
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    Oct 20th 2017, 7:39 AM

    I was stuck right in the middle. Was chaos. Everyone just trying to force their way through. Even some passenger, in a wife beater top, got out and tried to direct traffic. He nearly got side swiped. I called Donnybrook Garda station twice but no answer. Only 20 secs up to road but no where to be seen.

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    Mute Austin hickey
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    Oct 19th 2017, 11:27 PM

    The Garda are to busy

    6
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    Mute Patabake Kennedy
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    Oct 20th 2017, 12:22 AM

    @Austin hickey: Yeah. scrachin your self wears these guys out all right.

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    Mute scanlanavia
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    Oct 19th 2017, 8:52 PM

    shucks.. first world problems…

    8
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    Mute The Watcher
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    Oct 19th 2017, 8:21 PM

    That’s only the beginning. Wait until they start testing the LUAS more intensely tomorrow. Trams ruining every 3 minutes in O Connell street at 10kph.

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    Mute Simon Conneely
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    Oct 20th 2017, 4:37 PM

    If there were more flyovers on existing junctions past shankhill heading towards city centre there would be no problems

    1
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