Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

What the Government did was a drop in the ocean. It is telling that we had some of the biggest student protests for a long time after the budget. They were not happy. I am relaying what those students expressed to me. Some PhD students get no stipends. Some get miserable stipends of a few grand. Even those who get €18,000 have to work all the hours that God sends. They find it difficult to study or they have to have a second job, which makes it almost impossible for them to complete their studies. A lecturer who used to lecture me in UCD said they are worried about UCD's ability to recruit and retain postgraduate students. That is serious when we have chronic skills shortages in a number of areas across our society and public services. We are making it extremely difficult for people to get postgraduate degrees, to do doctorates and so on. That is the point. We now have increasing numbers of students saying they will just leave the country.

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