Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Following the establishment of my Department, I, as Minister, have tried to place a focus on having an affordable higher and further education system and on what we can do to not only address the sustainable funding of the sector but also to reduce the cost to students and families. This is demonstrated by the broad range of initiatives we have introduced and are planning. For example, more than 43,600 students have already been approved, through the student grant scheme, for the college year starting in September 2022.

We also saw an important body of work done that was commissioned by the Department. The review of the Student Universal Support Ireland, SUSI, student grant scheme gave rise to a number of recommendations on issues including the rates of grant, income thresholds, eligibility criteria and postgraduate support. It is my intention to progress measures to reduce the cost of education for families and students through improvements to the student grant scheme. I am pleased to say that we have started that work. We made the first changes to SUSI undergraduate grant rates and eligibility thresholds in a decade, as well as changes to the non-adjacency rules to benefit students who are commuting. Another change we have introduced means students can now earn up to €6,552 during non-term time in 2022, without being concerned that it will affect their eligibility for a grant.

On 4 May, I launched the Funding the Future framework, which sets out how we intend to reduce cost as a barrier to education in the context of budgets. I want to see the student contribution in higher education to be reduced in a meaningful way.

On accommodation affordability, I have to some degree already outlined my answer to Deputy Conway-Walsh. We in this House have changed the law to make sure that a student cannot be asked to pay more than one month's rent and one month's deposit up front. Students were getting fleeced by being asked to pay four, five, or six months' rent up front in order to secure accommodation. I will be attending a meeting of the Cabinet committee on housing next week to discuss student accommodation.

We have provided laptops to disadvantaged students to helps tackle the digital divide. It is expected that 20,000 students will receive a free laptop under the initiative. The Department of Transport has introduced a new youth travel card that will offer a 50% discount on fares across the public transport networks. The post-leaving certificate levy of €200 is being abolished from September 2022.

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