Duncan Smith (Dublin Fingal, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Tá brón orm ach beidh mé ag caint as Béarla. I would like to use this opportunity to bring up the issue of the fees being charged to students of Hibernia College. This has been brought up a number of times over recent weeks, and while it is ultimately the responsibility of the Minister for Education, the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media also has an area of responsibility here. I ask her to bring this contribution to the Minister for Education and I would appreciate it if she could contact me by writing after the debate with any responses she may have herself. There are 1,700-odd students across two academic years in Hibernia College, the vast majority of whom have been making great personal sacrifices to take part in the course, which takes place in a private college.

These students are ordinary people who are subsidising their way through this course with jobs, many of which have been lost to the pandemic. They may be sharing the burden with their own household or partner in order for them to fulfil their dream of becoming a teacher through this college. Their partners' jobs may also have gone or they may be on the pandemic unemployment payment, PUP, and times are especially hard, financially. They are learning through a private college and the outcome for these students will be to work in the public system in our schools, both primary and secondary. There is a responsibility here because there is an inequity where students who are going to public colleges are having the charges for their compulsory Gaeltacht courses covered but the ordinary working people who are working very hard to get through the private colleges are not having these fees covered at all. These are fees of €650 plus, multiplied by two. This is a big cost.

What is especially tough for them is that these courses, due to the pandemic, have had to be done online and there are no accommodation, food, travel or other costs to be paid. The price of this course does not add up. This is not a fair price for what the course is and students should not be burdened with this cost.

This issue has been raised a number of times on the floor of the House and in written parliamentary questions and the response that always comes back is that either the Department will meet with the college itself or that it is up to the college to negotiate directly with the providers of the Gaeltacht courses. That is somewhat disingenuous because the prices have already been set by Comhchoiste Náisiúnta na gColáistí Samhraidh, CONCOS, the umbrella organisation for the Gaeltacht courses. That is a false ask and a meeting with the college itself is not going to produce anything. It is down to the Minister, on a once-off basis, because we are in the midst of an unique global event which is having all sorts of unforeseen impacts, to allow some sort of once-off grant payment to allow these students to take part in these courses. The students I have been dealing with, to a man and woman, are ordinary workers who are making enormous sacrifices in normal times to try to complete these courses to become teachers, which is their dream and vocation, but these sacrifices are being compounded by the economic hardship brought on by this pandemic.

In fairness, there have been times when this Government and the previous interregnum Government have acted flexibly across the economy and society to try to meet the challenges and needs of those impacted by this pandemic. This is one such instance where we need that flexibility to be applied and I do not believe that there is any real resistance to it. Just because these people are learning through a private college does not mean that this can be just dismissed. These are not rich people with a great deal of money. Those I represent, and with whom others have been dealing, are ordinary working people who are scrimping and saving to try to get themselves through college and fulfil their dreams to give back to the generations to come as teachers. I ask the Taoiseach to take this message back to the Minister for Education. If he has any contributions of his own on this issue, I would enjoy hearing them either at the end of this debate or in writing to myself. I will leave it at that.

See this speech in context