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

I believe it was said in Shakespeare's Romeo and Julietthat "A rose by any other name would smell as sweet". I wonder, were William Shakespeare a student studying in Irish university today, would he say that student fees by any other name still stink? That is what we have. There is a situation whereby post-crash student fees were branded as a charge. A solution which tries to rebrand the problem does not actually solve anything. It just tries to define it away. The reason I remember this is because I was in college at that time. I remember it because at that time, I protested this charge along with many other students. We protested against it because we knew this would lead to the blocking of certain people from third level education. We knew it then and we still know it now.

Just today, I spoke to students who could not believe how much these student contribution charges have increased by since that time. Many students and people who went through university at that time know that these charges often increase and increase. I am a firm believer in having access to education for everybody, with free education for every single person who wants to access that education. Not everybody needs to go into third level education and it is important that we make clear to students the different options that they have. For anybody who wants to access third level education, there should be no barrier such as contribution charges or any other charges that limit their possibilities to access third level education or their ability to access whatever career path they want to take.

They call it the land of saints and scholars. It should not be a situation where scholars can only be scholars if they have the money to do so. It should be a situation where anybody who wants to access a certain third level degree can do so and has the right to do so. At the moment, there are young people who are simply locked out of education. The reality is the Government recognises this. Last year, when the Government announced the €1,000 change in the student contribution fee, in a sense it recognised at that point that it was not fair. It recognised that we needed to do more for people to be able to access third level education.

Well before the current cost-of-living crisis, I knew and many of us knew that this charge was wrong. At a time when bills, people's mortgages and even basic food supplies are increasing, then it is absolutely scandalous. The reality, which students are saying clearly to me, is that families need to be able to plan. They need to know, next year or the year after, if we have a situation where a child might want to access third level education, how they will plan for that. The Ministers know that decreasing student fees allows more young people to access third level education. It is not just the charges that have an impact on that. We know, from the Dublin City University report on housing that it is an additional barrier to education. It states that an average of €750 is not reasonable or realistic for many young people. We can all agree that what is needed is a situation whereby every single young person who wants to access third level education can do so and can access the course he or she wants to. Not only is that better for us as the so-called land of saints and scholars, but it is better for long-term workforce planning.

Tá rud amháin atáim chun a rá inniu. D'airigh na hAirí iad féin go raibh sé fíorthábhachtach an méid atá ar mhic léinn a íoc chuile bhliain a athrú ó €3,000 go €2,000. I ndáiríre, caithfimid breathnú air seo go fadtéarmach. Caithfimid cinntiú nach mbeidh costas ar bith ag baint le dul chuig an tríú leibhéal. Ba chóir go mbeadh daoine óga in ann dul chuig an ollscoil más mian leo. Ar ndóigh, tá rudaí eile gur féidir le daoine óga a dhéanamh agus tá sé fíorthábhachtach go bhfuil an t-eolas sin acu ach ba chóir go mbeadh deis ag aon pháiste beo atá ag iarraidh dul ar an ollscoil dul agus foghlaim cibé rud gur mhaith leis nó léi a fhoghlaim. Ba chóir go mbeadh daoine óga in ann a rá leo féin go bhfuil siad ag iarraidh a bheith ina léachtóir, ina ndochtúir nó ina n-altra agus é sin ar fad a dhéanamh. Ní cóir nach mbeadh sé de dheis acu é sin a dhéanamh mar gheall nach bhfuil an t-airgead acu.

I think we are all in agreement that we need to make sure that everybody has access to third level education who wants it.

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