Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

This is a very important discussion, but we cannot discuss things in isolation by saying "We are all for this and not for that." The witness referred to the fact that getting a radical model of SUSI is quite unlikely but we have all made substantial submissions here. This is why it really concerns me that reference was made to leaving the highest fees in Europe here, that we are okay with that and with taking that in isolation from all of the other costs involved in going to third level education. A number of people have to go to St. Vincent de Paul to pay their fees. We must be careful about this. Yes, we need to have substantive discussion and we need to examine the raw data around all of this. We need an explanation as to why 11 countries do not have any fees and why Ireland has the highest fees in the EU, as it stands, and we need to see how we can address it. The Union of Students in Ireland has advocated for a long time on student fees. To dismiss their concerns around student fees, access and completion is not the way to go. Do the witnesses think it is okay that Ireland would pay the highest fees in the EU?