Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I point out that in the time I have been in this role, we have seen four changes to the SUSI student grant scheme. We have seen the first increase in the postgraduate SUSI grant. We have seen the first general rise in the student support scheme that the Minister of State, Deputy Niall Collins, and I introduced in the budget. We have seen the threshold increase so that more families qualify and the adjacency requirements reduced so that more families will qualify. I am not suggesting that is everything we need to do, but those are four concrete measures that will ensure more families qualify for a student support and will increase the amount that every student in receipt of student support is receiving for the first time in over a decade.

The broader issue of registration fees and having sustainable funding model has been kicked around this House for far too long. In the last Oireachtas an all-party committee asked for an economic evaluation. My predecessor asked DG REFORM in the European Commission and Indecon to carry that out. I have now received that report and it is my intention to brief the Cabinet committee next month.

I expect to be able to bring forward proposals shortly thereafter.

On the cost of student accommodation, the Deputy is correct that any conversation about access to cheap money or borrowing must be matched by a commitment to ensuring that is an affordable rate of rent. I have no interest in providing access to State borrowing if it is not affordable for students.

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