Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I do not need a history lesson, and neither does the Deputy, in respect of some of the very difficult economic decisions this country made after the troika period and, indeed, during that period, when many difficult public expenditure decisions had to be made. We are not going to debate on the floor of the Dáil why they were made, I am quite sure. When our two parties came together along with the Green Party in this Government, we made a commitment, in the programme for Government, to improve student grants. Consider what occurred after I was appointed by the Taoiseach to my Department. In the first budget we delivered as a Government — ours is a Government of three parties — we increased student grants for postgraduates in addition to income thresholds and rates. In the second budget of this Government, we increased income thresholds and made increases in respect of the adjacency and non-adjacency rates. We also increased the overall rate. Have we reached the destination? No. Does everybody from the Taoiseach down in this Government intend to do more? Yes. Were student grants reduced, as the Deputy wishes me to say on the record of the House? Yes, they absolutely were. Why were they reduced? The Deputy is well aware of the reason, as am I. However, we are making progress, not just to get back to where we were but also to go further.

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