Third-level student grants will be available to asylum seekers for the first time from next month under changes announced by Minister for Education Jan O’Sullivan.

The changes were recommended by High Court judge Bryan McMahon in his recent report on the direct provision system and will be rolled out on a pilot basis initially.

To avail of the grants, the students must have been spent five years in the Irish school system, obtained their Leaving Certificate, have been accepted on a post-Leaving Certificate or undergraduate course, meet the definition of an asylum seeker and have been in the asylum system for a combined period of five years.

Ms O’Sullivan said the move will “bring certainty to a relatively small number of students who, up until now, have been marginalised despite their academic performance.

“Each year there are a relatively small number of students who are asylum protection applicants, including those in direct provision, who are effectively excluded from continuing their education after completing the Leaving Cert,” she said.

“These students have completed post-primary education in Ireland but cannot plan for their future in the same way as their classmates. It’s a particularly unfair situation that I want to see changed.

“From September, students in the protection system, who have spent five years in the Irish school system, can now access student supports.”

Pilot basis

Any applications will be assessed by the Department of Education and the scheme will operate on a pilot basis for the 2015/2016 academic year.

Details and application forms will be on the department’s website from next Tuesday.

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin, the Minister of State for New Communities, Culture and Equality, said it “will allow the small number of students affected by this annually to plan their lives in a similar way to their peers”.