Elaine Loughlin: College fees could be the snag that will unravel an already fractious Coalition

Irish Examiner

7 hours ago

The student fees budget row may be just the beginning of an unravelling of an ineffective Coalition.
To unravel would suggest that Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have been working constructively together up until recent days, when the rift over third-level fees emerged. Not the case.
With just a week and a half left until the Dáil rises for the summer, members accept that both parties — despite being in government together for the previous five years — have yet to fully settle in and bed down.
This has been noted not just at senior level, but right the way down the ranks.
Relationships between ministers and their junior counterparts are still very much in the 'building' phase.
The departure of several long-serving political advisers at election time means the cogs that keep both sides informed in the background are not yet fully turning.
One adviser, who has served for multiple ministers, noted that while there was always a healthy level of caution between those working for Fianna Fáil ministers and those serving Fine Gael politicians in the last coalition, both sides knew each other for a considerable period and could casually pick up the phone to one another.
The Budget 2026 spat over college fees fully erupted when James Lawless took to the airwaves on RTÉ last Sunday and again on 'Drivetime' the following day. File picture: PA
With a raft of new appointments, advisers have been getting to grips with their own departments and the workings of Government Buildings, cross-party co-operation is therefore down the list of priorities.
Student fees exposed deeper issues
While political spats nearly always have an element of the contrived about them, the student fees issue has brought up some deeper issues between Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, which were papered over in the last coalition.
The Independents in government have taken up a largely 'silent partner' role this time around, and without the mudguard of the Green Party, an easy target in the last administration, the two Civil War parties no longer have a mutual enemy and are now eyeing each other with increasing distrust.
Fine Gael members feel aggrieved, with one senator this week raising what has been perceived as Fianna Fáil's unfair treatment of Helen McEntee when she held the justice portfolio.
On the other side of the fence, senior Fianna Fáil sources have pointed out that Fine Gael has been strongly 'marking' a number of Fianna Fáil-held portfolios, such as justice.
One minister vented frustration around the level of lobbying and querying from Fine Gael advisers to department officials, suggesting that Simon Harris should be picking up the phone to the line minister instead of using sneaky backchannels.
As the third-level row refused to settle down, Fianna Fáil members claim Harris has been overly fixated on his former department.
'He is not the minister anymore'
'He is not the minister any more,' one senior Fianna Fáil source said after the Tánaiste first briefed a private meeting of his party 10 days ago on the student fees issue.
Referencing the fact that he brought down fees during his time as higher education minister, Harris outlined a number of budget priorities to the Fine Gael parliamentary party, including measures to reduce the cost of third-level education that would include student fees.
Privately, it sparked almost immediate fury within the ranks of Fianna Fáil, with one senior member suggesting to the Irish Examiner that the Tánaiste was 'setting a trap' for the current higher education minister as previous cuts to student fees came out of a cost-of-living pot which will not be possible as part of this autumn's budget.
'It's him [James Lawless] that's the problem'
The Budget 2026 spat fully erupted when James Lawless took to the airwaves last weekend, stating that student fees, which were reduced by €1,000 over the past three years, will return to €3,000 as the budget will not contain a cost-of-living package.
'The shite that he has landed us in over this,' one Fine Gael minister said of last Sunday's RTÉ radio interview and a further appearance on Drivetime the following day.
'He rang into a radio station. I've never heard anything like it. It's him that's the problem, it was a non-issue before he went on radio.'
In a voice note sent to Fine Gael politicians, Harris also took a direct swipe at Lawless, claiming that the programme for government clearly commits to reducing fees 'on a permanent basis'. Fianna Fáil countered by stressing that a clause at the end of that sentence only promises to bring down fees in 'a financially sustainable manner'.
Opposition make hay with Coalition tensions
Members of the opposition have made hay on the Coalition tensions, pressing every minister who entered the Dáil chamber this week for a definite answer on fees, none of whom were able to provide absolute clarity.
As the debate rumbled on, the Taoiseach was again questioned on the matter in Japan yesterday.
Without referring to anyone by name, Mr Martin said:
Certainly, I think people perhaps could have paused and reflected, maybe before hitting out, but that's politics.
Opening up another budget fissure, Martin then moved to dismiss proposals for a two-tier system of welfare that would see those on unemployment benefits receive a lower increase than other social welfare recipients.
It came just days after the Tánaiste said there is 'merit' in unemployment benefit not rising at the same rate as other social welfare payments, such as pensions.
Having differences of opinion in any coalition is not necessarily a negative, nor does it signal an immediate election, as long as both sides can constructively work to find consensus.
But this Coalition now finds itself in a particular space. It can allow the drift to continue with tit-for-tat counter-briefings and bitching which will eventually render it nonfunctional. Or both sides can consciously decide to end the sniping and make this Government work.