Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I accept that there is always a need to do more, but the idea that the Deputy suggests, or would suggest on behalf of anybody else, that nothing was done in the budget to assist students, is manifestly untrue. Some €143 million has been allocated for cost-of-living measures for students between now and the end of the year, which is not nothing. About 95,000 students will benefit from a €1,000 reduction in fees between now and Christmas. More than 50,000 students will benefit from a bonus student grant payment on 16 December, which will amount to about €679 extra for many students. Student grants will rise by between 10% and 14% from January. Students will not have to wait until the next college year. That is ahead of the inflation rate. The student assistance fund has been increased by €8 million. We have made sure that students and their parents are covered by rent relief. I accept that we need to do more, but it is certainly not nothing, or effectively nothing, as the Deputy said about the budget. That is not true.

The Deputy's question intends to inform discussion about the need to do more and what the system should look like, but we have taken many actions. I am not sure that the Deputy would be able to point to any other budget delivered in this House that has delivered more to reduce the cost of education in a single move, in the context of cost-of-living measures. I accept that there is more to do. Deputy Boyd Barrett raised a valid issue about PhD students and researchers, which is why I intend to have a full review of how this country supports our PhD students, how it compares with other countries and what we must do better. I intend for that to be an external review. It will not be a departmental exercise but will be done by somebody who can liaise directly with PhD students to look at what the country does well, what it must do better, and at the issue of financial support.

Real measures have been taken which will affect tens of thousands of students and their parents between now and Christmas. They will not have to wait for any significant period. I know that we have more to do.

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