Donna McGettigan (Clare, Sinn Fein)

I thank the Minister for this presentation. It looks like there is a lot that is good in this. I commend the Minister with regard to CERN and other things he is doing. We met TUS this morning, however, and I know SUSI will need major reforms because according to TUS, just over 42% of students did not receive any funding for their studies. These are some of the stark issues coming out of the presentation this morning. The figures are shocking. Just over 80% of students said they struggle to pay rent and find it hard to support themselves. The OECD has stated that we are among the most highly educated, which is great, but according to that body we are among the lowest in terms of funding per student, so I hope the Minister's new figures will help in that regard.

One positive element in the presentation this morning was that despite all that is wrong with students trying to get to college, they will do it again tomorrow. That is on the students themselves, which shows a great thing for the type of students we have. The Minister is working on borrowing for student accommodation. Could we get an update on that because they do not have any accommodation? The initiative would solve so many issues.

I have met representatives of UCC, MTU, Maynooth University and TUD. The last time I spoke to MTU last week in Cork, it representatives told me about international students. They stated that the impact of these students on the local economy is huge with a figure of €18 million being mentioned. MTU told me that it has to turn some of them away because once again, it does not have accommodation so that would really help. It is not just helping the economy. It is also helping the students and mental health. The only issue is that as we could start using international students as cash cows, which would not be a good thing, there needs to be a balance.

The issue of fees will come up once again. We are looking to see whether the students will be paying €2,000 or €3,000. While the Minister stated he did not say there would be a fee hike, he did say that they would reset. As "reset" means up to €3,000, could we get clarity on that?