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BreakingNews.ie
03-07-2025
- Politics
- BreakingNews.ie
Government urged to ‘get its act together' over third-level fees plan
The Government has been urged to 'get its act together' and level with parents and students on how much college fees will be in the new academic year. Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe became the latest minister to refuse to confirm Government plans over third-level fees. Advertisement The student contribution fee has been temporarily reduced for the past three years as part of cost-of-living packages accompanying the budget. The fees had been €3,000 before being temporarily cut by €1,000, saving families with multiple children at third level thousands of euros per academic year. Social Democrats TD Jennifer Whitmore told the Dail that students and families have been 'led down the garden path' by the Government and they are 'absolutely sick of its games'. Earlier this week, Higher Education Minister James Lawless said that student contribution fees will increase as there is no cost-of-living package to pay for what were temporary reductions introduced amid an inflation crisis. Advertisement He said that fees will have to be reset, which means they will revert to the same level as previous years. He added that 'all of us in any walk of life have to play the hands we're dealt'. Ms Whitmore described these comments as 'utterly galling and incredibly tone deaf'. 'When will the Government get its act together and level with parents and students?' the Wicklow TD added. Advertisement 'It has been five days since the higher education minister took to the airways and dropped the bombshell that parents and students will have to find another €1,000 to fund college before September. 'He did not try to sugarcoat that news – it was quite the opposite. A member of Government actively stacking the deck against students and families, essentially telling them to suck it up – that is what he said – and play the bum hand they have been dealt.' Sinn Féin TD Matt Carthy said the minister 'clearly stated' that without a cost-of-living package in October's budget, college fees will rise by €1,000. This, he said, was backed up by Taoiseach Micheál Martin. Advertisement 'Let us clear up this mess today,' he urged Mr Donohoe. 'I have just one simple question for the minister and it is the same question that has been anxiously asked at kitchen tables all over the country. 'When students get their bill in September, how much will they be asked to pay? Will it be €2,000 or €3,000? 'Students and their families need an answer to that question today. It is the only question I have for the minister.' Advertisement Mr Donohoe answered by outlining the supports available to students. He said that one in three students do not pay a student contribution. He told the Dáil that half of students use the SUSI scheme, and that households with an income of up to 64,000 euro do not pay a student contribution. The Fine Gael minister added: 'Budget by budget, we make changes we believe are affordable which recognise the challenges there. 'That is why we will do what we normally do in the approaching budget. We will put in place measures, including those to deal with the cost of becoming a student and the challenge many families face, we know are affordable, can be funded and can be built upon in the years ahead. 'The minister, deputy Lawless, myself and the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, deputy (Jack) Chambers, are clear on what that objective is. 'We are clear that temporary measures in place when inflation was high need to be looked at as well as how we can put in place other measures that can make a difference to something we know is an acute difficulty for many and those who are already receiving needed supports.'
Irish Times
02-07-2025
- Business
- Irish Times
Coalition sharply divided over third-level fees
The Coalition remains sharply divided on the issue of college fees after Opposition parties united in anger at recent suggestions from Fianna Fáil Minister for Further and Higher Education James Lawless that the student contribution could increase by as much as €1,000 next year. Fine Gael was privately seething at the controversy, with party sources saying their TDs had received a barrage of representations from concerned parents and students, while radio shows and social media channels were also full of opposition to the measure. One party source said there had been 'panic' following Mr Lawless's suggestions, pointing to 'two days on Liveline' and also how the issue dominated Leaders' Questions in the Dáil . Fine Gael backbencher Willie Aird said very few students have parents 'with deep pockets who can come up with this €1,000'. READ MORE 'I'm pleading with ye today not to go ahead with this,' he said in the Dáil. Fianna Fáil sources insisted it was Mr Lawless's responsibility to set his own budgetary priorities in the Department of Further and Higher Education, and blamed Fine Gael for overreacting to his comments. The Government had decided not to include any cost-of-living package in the next budget, sources said, and Ministers would have to decide how to manage that in their own departments. They pointed out the commitment to reduce the student contribution fee in the programme for Government had to be done 'in a financially sustainable manner'. One senior Fianna Fáil source also insisted that more than half of all students already receive a full or partial subsidy of their student contribution fee, adding that the income threshold for fee supports this year is at an 'historic high at €115,000'. 'It is important to target those most in need,' the source said. 'Families that need more will get more.' On a visit to Japan, Taoiseach Micheál Martin sought to avoid being dragged into the row, saying the issue of student fees would be part of negotiations between individual Ministers and the Minister for Public Expenditure. 'There's a broad range of priorities there. So it'll all go forward to negotiations,' Mr Martin said. At home, Tánaiste Simon Harris also sought to avoid escalating the row in public, suggesting that some assistance to students would be included, on a permanent basis, in the budget. Mr Harris said parents of college students should pay fees in instalments and 'see where the budget brings us'. The controversy arose after Mr Lawless said on Sunday that because the Government had decided there would be no cost-of-living package in this year's budget, the €1,000 reduction to fees of €3,000, which was a part of recent budgets, would no longer apply – suggesting an effective €1,000 increase for many students. The fees issue – always incendiary in Irish politics – dominated exchanges in the Dáil. Sinn Féin finance spokesman Pearse Doherty said 'sending a kid to college is already costing families an arm and a leg' and 'hitting them with an extra €1,000 will make going to college impossible for many, and no wonder young people are leaving this country in their droves'. Acting Social Democrats leader Cian O'Callaghan said the Government 'promised to reduce student fees, you are now breaking those promises that you have made'. The row between the Government parties comes amid a backdrop of funding shortages for the third-level sector. A funding gap of €307 million was identified by the government in 2022. Privately, many in higher education circles say badly-needed funds have been diverted into measures aimed at cutting college fees instead. In last October's budget, however, the Government pledged to increase core funding, rising from €50 million in 2025 to €150 million extra by 2029.
