Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I take the point that this has been championed by the Department of Education and Skills and the Minister, Deputy Quinn, but there should be joined-up thinking when it comes to the impact of all measures, particularly education. The Government's constantly stated commitment to education, reskilling and retraining as a key part of getting people back to work, preparing the economy for recovery and gearing up people for new industry or enterprise that we hope to develop or attract investment in does not tally with making it more difficult for people to access education. The two points run directly counter to one another and there is no doubt any additional cost for education is a disincentive for some people to access third level education. There is a significant phenomenon of people dropping out because they, or their families, cannot afford the cost of third level education. Whoever is responsible, collectively, this is a retrograde move that does not help people trying to access education and it does not help our hopes for economic recovery.