Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)

The Fine Gael Party has proposed that it will introduce fees on a full cost basis. The Hunt report will be published at the beginning of the new year. I had hoped to have it last week, but unfortunately we do not have enough to prepare for the launching of the report, so I will do it in the beginning of the new year. We will all have to look at how we are going to sustain financially third level education. That is the harsh reality of it. There must be new ways in which income can be obtained for colleges and universities through internationalisation and through some type of student contribution.

On the student contribution side, I have put a cap on the contribution on each household, depending on how many young people are attending college, and I have introduced a new category within the student maintenance grant scheme that 50% of the contribution will also be paid. It was a matter of taking the resources that I have and using them to the best of my ability. We have seen an increase of almost €18 million on the student maintenance scheme.

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