Averil Power (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am keen to raise the issue of priorities as we head into the budget discussions for next year. The figures in the presentation we have relate to cuts announced previously that will come into place in 2015. One of these is the €350 increase in the student contribution, something that has put considerable pressure on families that do not qualify for the grant. These people are just above the grant threshold. Currently, they must pay €2,750 per year, which makes a mockery of any claims that we have a free fee system in the country. We do not. It is a huge sum of money. A previous Government announcement indicated that contribution would rise to €3,000 next year. Will the Minister ensure it is a budget priority to reverse that cut? It is incredibly regressive. It is hitting people who are barely over the grant threshold and they are being hit with all the other extra charges as well. They are the squeezed middle.

Another priority should be to protect the maintenance grant. It has been severely hit in recent years. What is the position on the student assistance fund? Is there any scope within the Estimates for the current year? Will this be a priority for next year? The student assistance fund is discretionary funding in colleges to help students who perhaps have a grant that is inadequate. It allows them to get extra funding through the colleges from the allocation. It is also for those not entitled to a grant but who are in dire straits. Some students are not entitled to a grant because they are not deemed by the Department to meet the eligibility criteria for being independent from their family but they may have had to move out. There could be domestic violence situations and all kinds of difficulties which mean students do not strictly meet the Department's criteria but they have to live separately and are finding it difficult to cope. They turn to college assistance offices explaining that they will have to drop out of college unless something can be done to help them. The point of the student assistance fund was to have discretionary money to help people in difficult circumstances and hard cases.

The fund was cut from €8 million to €6.6 million this year. Last year the fund ran out in most colleges by November. Students started at the end of September or the start of October and the money was gone by November. Some people were in dire straits in February and March but the colleges could not help them because the funding was gone. In many respects it has been a direct reflection of the other cuts that have been made in maintenance grants and so on. This is funding of last resort for people who have been hit elsewhere but the fund has also been hit. It is not big money. The cut made this year was from €8 million to €6.6 million. Is there any scope in the remaining budget? The Department is ahead in some areas of expenditure and behind in others. Does the Minister have scope to do anything with the student assistance fund for the remainder of 2014? One of the Minister's priorities for next year should be to restore that funding.

Two years ago a once-off cut of €25 million was announced for the higher education institutions. It was not restored this year. Will it be restored next year? It was supposed to be a once-off cut but it has been carried on.