Mairead Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank my namesake for raising this important question. It boils down to the issue of access to education and the barriers to same, including financial ones. We are now aware that the student accommodation crisis is acting as a another barrier. When I was involved in college politics, fees were a hot topic - they still are - in terms of being a barrier to accessing education.

The Minister referred to a €500 grant for those earning less than €100,000. We will have to wait and see what decision is made on fees in the budget, but I hope that last year's decision will be maintained and there will be an added step in the direction of getting rid of student fees once and for all.

See this speech in context