Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for the question and the short answer is that it is established. It is important that when you have an announcement in the budget, you examine how you will translate that into implementation. As part of the budget, I was delighted to receive a significant cost-of-living package for third level students. Some €143 million will be spent between now and the end of the year to reduce the cost of education for students and their families. That is in addition to the public transport fare reductions for students and the rent relief.

Part of that project, as the Deputy said, is including a once-off €1,000 State financial support towards the undergraduate student contribution fee. This will assist students with the costs of attending higher education and will help alleviate some of the financial pressures which they and their families are facing. The measure will reduce the student contribution payable by free fees for eligible students from €3,000 to €2,000 in this academic year. We expect this measure to benefit 94,000 additional students. It is anticipated that students who are paying their student contribution fee in two instalments will have the amount reduced from their next instalment by their institution during semester 2. This means that if a student is paying the €3,000 in two instalments, €1,500 now and €1,500 in the second half of the year, the latter amount will automatically be reduced to €500. That will affect the bulk of students because most of them pay in instalments. However, some students will have paid the full €3,000 upfront. Students who have paid the full contribution fee already will receive a refund from their institutions before the end of the year.

Institutions will communicate with directly on how the refund process for students who paid their full student contributions during semester 1 will operate. Students should expect to hear from their institutions this week and next and that will largely be to seek the bank details of where they would like the refund to be paid into. Those refunds will automatically process in the weeks ahead. If a student does not respond with bank details or if a small number need to be paid in 2023 we are ready and intending to pay them between now and the end of the year and as quickly as possible. This is a measure of putting money back in people's pockets, particularly between now and Christmas.

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