Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The Deputy is right. I signed the pledge on behalf of the Labour Party as the party's spokesperson on education during the campaign for the last general election. That pledge and that commitment did not make it into the programme for Government that was negotiated between my party and Fine Gael. As Minister for Education and Skills, I have a responsibility to implement the programme for Government, and that is what I am doing. I have to ensure that students who want to go to college can get there. What I have stated frequently is that there should be no financial barrier for a student who wants to go to college. That is why 42% of all students doing undergraduate courses are on some form of grant, which means not only that they may have a maintenance grant but that they do not have to pay the fee in the first instance.

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