Dáil debates

Wednesday, 28 September 2022

Financial Resolutions 2022 - Financial Resolution No. 6: General: Financial Resolution (Resumed)

 

5:45 pm

Photo of Niall CollinsNiall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I will echo some of the comments made by the Minister. I thank the Ministers for Finance and Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputies Donohoe and Michael McGrath, for their engagement with us to arrive at a total voted spend for our Department of approximately €3.9 billion. That significant sum of money will be spent on people engaged in the further and higher education sector, research, innovation and science. It will help to drive forward the agenda, give people skills, upskill and educate people for the workforce and to address the gaps we have in our labour force.

I welcome the positive impact that yesterday's budget in its totality will have in every community in Ireland. It is important to remember where we have come from. We have come through a pandemic when we were one of the best operators globally. We had the lowest number of deaths as a result of Covid-19. That is a testament to everybody up and down this country. We came through the pandemic and are now dealing with a war in Ukraine and a cost-of-living crisis that is impacting many people up and down the country. This country was able to deliver a budget with €11 billion to address the cost of living and other measures that will roll out next year. It is significant that we are able to do that without borrowing. There has been chaos next door in the UK since its budget was announced. It is borrowing to fund tax cuts and the unlimited liability of the cap on energy prices. There has been a fallout from that recklessness. The stability we have here is, by comparison, remarkable.

I will comment on some of the positive aspects in our Department, including the one-off €1,000 reduction in the undergraduate student contribution fee; the one-off reduction of up to 33% in the contribution fee for apprentices; the one-off extra payment for all maintenance grant recipients, which is a doubling of one monthly payment; and the one-off increase of €1,000 in the supports for SUSI-qualified postgraduate students, which will mean a rise from €3,500 to €4,500. Our changes to the student assistance fund are important. We invested heavily, and rightly, in the student assistance fund throughout the pandemic and thereafter. We will continue to do that Students face many challenges in their daily lives. We give a lot of taxpayers' money and resources to every college and campus around Ireland so they can exercise their discretion and engage with students to support them in their hour of need of assistance through the assistance fund.

We have been able to increase our budget, fund more apprenticeships and continue to expand our range of apprenticeships. We are also dealing with legacy issues arising from core underfunding and addressing pension liability hangovers.

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