Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú) | Oireachtas source

Students have been radically hammered by the cost of living crisis. For the last two years, many students have suffered significantly through the housing crisis so many have been forced to live at home and travel great distances to college daily. I know of many people throughout rural Ireland who do not have the public transport to access universities. Many of them have their parents drive them to college or to the location where they can get public transport, or they drive themselves. Now they are being snookered on the other side of that equation because prices of diesel and petrol are increasing. They feel that nobody is winning in this situation. They are borrowing money, facing debts and suffering anxiety and mental health issues as a result.

One of the promises in the recent budget was reduced transport costs for young people. That has not materialised and today we still do not have that in place. It is an incredible situation. It is astounding that it was promised in the budget and still not delivered in March 2022.

We need an update on SUSI reform. Can the Minister say with absolute clarity that students who apply for SUSI next month will be treated more fairly and with greater leniency than last year. When will the reforms the Minister has spoken about kick in? Will they kick in for people who apply next month or will they have to wait for the next years for those differences in grants?

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