Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I could not agree more with the Deputy. He has summed it up correctly. The core funding is key. We cannot rob Peter to pay Paul. We have to close the gap in the core funding of €307 million in the lifetime of this Government. We also have to make progress on the cost of education. We have published a Government policy that states we will, through successive budgets, increase grants and gradually reduce the fees. I would like to say more on that. That is the Government's position, so that is what we will do.

With my colleague, the Minister, Deputy Michael McGrath, we did put it together. I think it was a €30 million package of student supports last year. We saw the SUSI grants increase for the first time in ten years last year. From September all the SUSI grants increase and quite a lot of changes are coming in to SUSI. I expect we will receive another pot of funding for student supports. How we divide that between registration fee changes and student grants will be a matter for the budget. I expect we will be in a position to show good form and good progress in this in budget 2023. The key thing will be for us to keep the momentum going during the lifetime of this Government and the three remaining budgets.

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