Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for raising the broader question of the student contribution to the funding of the third level sector. As he said, the matter has been kicked around for too long. The Cassells report is now five years old and it was supposed to be the blueprint for reform. Labour certainly wants to see the State taking up the challenge in one of those three options in the report; we want to see that option rather the option of fees or loans. It is welcome to hear there will be progress and the Cabinet will be briefed on this in December. Will the Minister say what option from the Cassells report is likely to be taken up by the Government and how will this have an impact on students who are already paying €3,000 as a student contribution charge, which is, in effect, the highest fee in the EU? We can contrast that with €170 in France and no fee in Germany or Denmark. I am conscious the Union of Students in Ireland called for a reduction in the budget but it was not included in the overall package. The Minister has outlined welcome measures with the likes of increases in the SUSI grant and so forth but there is still the lack of clarity over what the funding model for third level will be and the future of the student contribution charge or student fees more generally.

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