Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 29 March 2022

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills

Future Funding of Higher Education: Discussion (Resumed)

Dr. Emer Smyth:

We got rid of fees before and it did not help equity. The only group that gained were foreign families. Working-class students did not benefit from the abolition of fees and the argument was made on equity grounds. We have strong evidence that it will not improve equity. What would improve equity is providing the financial support to make it there and the educational support to get to that point.