Who is the HEAR access route for?

To meet this criterion your family income must fall on or below the HEAR Income Limit.

Add €4,785 to the total income for every sibling/parent enrolled in a full-time college, university or Post Leaving Certificate further education course.

*A dependent includes:

• A sibling under the age of 16 years on 1 October 2026.
• A sibling over the age of 16 years on 1 October 2026 who is either: attending post primary education.
• Attending a full-time course in FET or higher education.
• Medically certified as permanently unfit for work.
• A parent attending a full-time course in FET or higher education.

Please Note: HEAR requires evidence of a full year’s income for 2025 (i.e. 52 weeks). Some applicants depending on their parent(s)’/guardian(s)’ circumstances in 2025 may need to submit Revenue documents and/or evidence of other income as well as evidence of DSP income. Your guardian may not necessarily be your legal guardian, but refers to who you lived with and contributed to the household income in 2025. If you have indicated income from both parents you must submit documents detailing both their incomes. Please go to the Applicant Checklist (click here to get there) for more information about which documents are the right ones for you to submit.

To meet this criterion, you or your parent(s) or guardian(s) must have a medical card or GP visit card that was in date on 31 December 2026.

In order to assess your application, HEAR seeks permission to contact the HSE directly to verify that you or your parent(s) or guardian(s) have a medical card or a GP visit card that is in date on 31 December 2026. You can supply us with the information for yourself or your parent(s)/ guardian(s).

If you have a medical card or GP visit card in your own name, you should enter your own PPS number in Section 3 of the HEAR online application form. If you do not have a medical card/ GP visit card in your own name but your parent/ guardian does, you should enter their name, date of birth and PPS number in Section 3 of the HEAR online application form.

If your parent(s) or guardian(s) received a means tested payment from the Department of Social Protection for at least 26 weeks in 2025, you will meet this criterion. Department of Social Protection Payments/ Social Welfare payments are broadly divided into three types: Contributory payments are based on your Pay-Related Social Insurance (PRSI) record. Whether you qualify for a payment depends on having a certain number of PRSI contributions. These types of payments are commonly referred to as Social Insurance payments. Non-contributory payments require you to satisfy a means-test and be an ongoing resident in the State. These types of payments are commonly referred to as Social Assistance payments. Payments and benefits such as Child Benefit and Free Travel do not depend on PRSI contributions or means. Only means-tested social assistance payments count as a HEAR indicator.

The most common means-tested social assistance payments are:

• Carer’s Allowance
• Disability Allowance
• Working Family Payment (WFP) (formerly know as Family Income Support, FIS)
• Jobseeker’s Allowance (JA)
• One-Parent Family Payment (OFP)
• State Pension (Non-Contributory)

Other acceptable means-tested social assistance payments are:

• Back to Work Enterprise Allowance – Self-employed year 2-4
• Deserted Wife’s Allowance
• Guardian’s Payment (Non-Contributory)
• Jobseeker’s Transitional Payment
• Part-Time Job Incentive Scheme
• Pre-Retirement Allowance (PRETA)
• Prisoner’s Wife Allowance
• Blind Pension
• Rent Allowance
• Supplementary Welfare Allowance (SWA)2
• Widow’s or Widower’s (Non-Contributory) Pension.

When you apply to HEAR, your address is checked against an index and you are given a score that indicates how disadvantaged your neighbourhood is. To meet this criterion, you must live in an area that is disadvantaged, very disadvantaged or extremely disadvantaged. 

HEAR uses information from a deprivation index of relative affluence or disadvantage. The index is based on information gathered in the 2022 Census. The country is divided into small areas and each area is assigned an average score ranging from extremely disadvantaged to very affluent.  To check the classification of your address, click the link below. Use the map to search your home address and view your area profile: https://data.pobal.ie/portal/apps/experiencebuilder/experience/?id=3b0acba7eb694ffa85340a60f81d516c.

Delivering Equality of Opportunity In Schools (DEIS) is an initiative of the Department of Education and Skills aimed at lessening educational disadvantage and bringing about social inclusion in primary and second level education. Traditionally, few students from these schools go on to college/ third level education. Also, children from DEIS schools tend to leave school earlier and do less well academically than students from other schools. Further information on DEIS, including a listing of all DEIS schools, is available on the DES website: www.education.ie.

You must have completed five years in a secondary school that takes part in the DEIS scheme in order to meet this criterion.

The list of schools on the online HEAR application form includes every secondary DEIS school in the country listed as the official school name. HEAR can only assess on the information provided on the online application.

If you attended more than one secondary schol you are asked on the online application to enter details of all schools.

The HEAR scheme recognises specific groups are particularly disadvantaged. Research has identified that students from the following groups are particularly under-represented in higher education in Ireland. In order to increase the number of HEAR students from these groups
progressing to higher education, HEAR has agreed to prioritise the following groups:

•  Care-Experienced Applicants.
• Applicants who wish to be identified as a member of the Traveller Community in their HEAR application.
• Applicants who wish to be identified as a member of the Roma Community in their HEAR application.
• Young Parents.

HEAR has four priority groups of applicants. If you think you are a priority applicant, you may need some evidence to support your application. If you apply under a HEAR priority group, provide the required documents and are eligible you will receive a score of 7. You can compete for HEAR reduced points places and will be prioritised for offers. 

Below are the scores allocated by the HEAR scheme under each of the criteria. HEAR applicants must achieve a criteria score based on meeting these criteria.

HEAR adds up your criteria score to see if you are HEAR priority, HEAR eligible or HEAR ineligible.