Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

By any standard, the students who enter higher education in 2020 will have a very greatly diminished student experience. Against that background, it is completely unjustifiable to charge the highest student contribution fee in Europe. It is completely unjustifiable to charge students anything at all but to charge them €3,000 a year when they have no ability to get part-time work, their family incomes may have been hit and they will have a diminished student experience is unacceptable. The Minister should abolish or dramatically reduce those fees.

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