Ms Jane Hayes-Nally:

My name is Jane Hayes-Nally and I attend St. Mary’s High School in Midleton. I study eight leaving certificate subjects: three languages, three sciences and two mathematics subjects. I am in fifth year and I am the president of the Irish Second-Level Students Union. We represent the second-level students in Ireland and we believe in and strive for an education system without barriers. I represent hundreds of thousands of students who say that no matter who we are, where we come from or how much money our parents make, we should have the right to an education and the opportunity to continuing to third level if that is what we want.

There are five children in my family ranging in age from 17 to 10 years. My parents break their backs making sure we have everything we could want or need, despite the fact that my Dad does not have a college degree. My mum is responsible for supporting our education at home, she has helped me with my mathematics homework and she also helped me to learn my spellings since I was four years old. My mother’s encouragement and support is at the core of my academic success and my love for learning. I owe a great deal to my parents, but once, maybe twice a week, one of the older children will say something about college and that leads to a huge argument. The problem is that my parents, like many parents in this country, do not know what is in store for us. They cannot afford to easily send all five of us to third level education. They cannot send us to the colleges that we dream of. My parents are reeling at the prospect of having to watch their children enter into an enormous level of debt from student loans. They are already looking into ways to help me pay my fees so that I will not have to do this. My parents do not want to see their children burdened with a huge debt that will impact the rest of their lives. They love us and they do not want this as a future for us.

If all five of us decided to enter into third level with student loans, we would have a collective debt of €100,000. That would be a debt of €100,000 hanging over one family. How would this make any parent feel? How would this make the parents in the members' constituencies feel? What kind of a choice is that for a parent to make? What kind of an issue is that for a teenager to have to consider? What are my options and what will my choice mean for my brothers and sisters? This poses the question: who gets to go to college from my family and who does not? We need to see debt for what it really is, a barrier to education.

I am only 17 years old and I am already worried about what student loans will mean for me. Debt is debt. Student loans will mean that I may not have access to credit later in life. How would that impact on my life? Would I be able to buy a house, own a car or raise a family in my own country? My parents passionately believe in education but they cannot support a decision that will cost us so much in the future. They will do anything to prevent their children getting into debt because they know how hard it would be and how much we would struggle.

There is no justification for a scheme which would limit the access of Irish people to education. There is no justification for burdening our students with debts when we are in a position to fund these opportunities, just like the Cassells report deems viable. How is it that we are even debating this? Why are my parents and I being put under this pressure when there is a report that states that there is a possible option which would allow every child the opportunity to progress to third level?

On many occasions my organisation has consulted second level students on what they want for their future and the students have said that education should be open to all, it should be equal and it should be accessible. Most recently we hosted councils in Connaught, Munster and Leinster for the students of those regions. We discussed and debated many issues during these events but most notably third level fees. We discussed the impact these fees would have on students my age who hope to progress to third level. Students as young as 13 years of age spoke of their fear that they will not get this opportunity. College as we know it is too expensive for many of us but college as we fear it will become will be inaccessible to even more. Free at the point of entry but extortionate at the point of exit is not what this nation stands for and the fear of debt will result in many families opting out of third level education, opting out of learning, opting out of a career and a future.

I know that student loans would mean an increase in fees and that this would deter students like me, from families like mine, from applying for third level courses. As things stand, even grant aided, I would struggle to cover the cost of living while in third level, let alone with an increase in fees. The idea that I will be saddled with debt before I have even begun my career is terrifying, but the added prospect that my siblings of I would not get the opportunity to progress to third level would be heartbreaking. I urge the members of the committee not to support any increase to student fees and not to support the introduction of a student loan scheme that will limit the options of students just like me, students who love to learn, enjoy their education and dream of the opportunity to create a future.

What other options do I have? My parents have taught me to always pay what I owe. The members may think that we do not understand what income contingent loans are but we know for a fact that they mean an increase in fees and a burden of debt for the rest of our lives.

Right now in Australia, one in five student loans remain unpaid as a result of emigration or graduates failing to earn sufficient income for long enough periods. Gender is a big problem in regard to paying back loans - women in the USA find it harder to pay back their loans than that of their male colleagues as women typically earn less than males. Thousands of those who are living abroad are too afraid to return to New Zealand due to their student loan debt. Is that what will happen to me, that I will be too afraid to come home, struggling to make repayments, saddled with debt before I am even 25?

I want a future. I want the chance to stay in Ireland and to study here. I, along with many of my fellow students, will contribute as a taxpayer to the generations that will come after us and we will help fund their education, but what happens if I cannot afford a future in Ireland? One of my options is to leave the home I love and the family I adore and pursue my education in Germany. Right now, no fees apply to international students in Germany, bar a small contribution charge of €50. Therefore, to the class of 2018, the message is "Willkommen in Deutschland". A record number of foreign students are currently enrolled in German universities and half of them stay in the country after graduating. Is this where my life will be then? Is this where my children will be educated?

I and many of my fellow students are begging to be heard.

We are telling this country that we need publicly funded education in order for us to have a future in our own country. We are not alone, however. We are not only students calling for this. We are among our parents, our teachers and our future lecturers. We are united with members of national unions, organisations and charities. Some 1.9 million people are represented. We are joined by people who believe in the same right to education as we do. My mother, who has supported my education, is sitting in the Gallery along with my sisters right now listening to me speak. My mother loves me and would do anything for me to have a future. Can the committee justify to her a system that would lock her daughter out and drive her eldest abroad, away from her home?

Le bhur dtoil, bíodh misneach agaibh. Go raibh maith agaibh.