Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am committed to providing significant additional resources towards the delivery of tertiary education, supporting students, and addressing the cost of education for families. My Department's gross allocation for this year is €4.26 billion, which represents an increase of more than €990 million - almost €1 billion - since the establishment of my Department. Our current expenditure allocation now represents 4.3% of Ireland's national budget.

The Funding the Future framework was published in May 2022 and this outlines the Government's vision for how higher education would be funded and how we will support students, employers and the wider society. At the core of this approach is to maintain a dual focus on increasing recurrent funding for our third-level institutions to enable enhanced quality provision, reducing our staff student ratios by providing more staff in our universities, but also crucially - and I did insist on this - addressing as part of any funding model the cost of education for students and their families and reducing cost as a barrier to participation and success. Over the past two budgets I have increased investment in core funding of higher education by more than €105 million. I will continue to prioritise increased core funding as part of the budgetary process in tandem with the reform and enhancement programme envisaged by the Funding the Future policy.

I have also allocated significant resources to reduce the cost of higher education for families. Over the past two years the student contribution fee payable by students who are eligible for the free fees initiative has been cut by €1,000. This means that some 96,000 students have benefited with €1,000 back in their pocket as a result of that. For students whose families' incomes are between €62,000 and €100,000 there is now a new grant on top of that of €500 towards the undergraduate student contribution fee. This, effectively, cuts their fees in half. I have made increases to student maintenance grants among a number of improvements to the SUSI scheme, increasing all student grants from January, and restoring for the first time since the financial crash the postgraduate maintenance grant as well. I have also ensured that additional funding has been provided to the student assistance fund and I have worked with Government colleagues to make sure we have expanded the renter's tax credit so students and their parents can benefit from that.

I assure Deputy Durkan that providing accessible and affordable high-quality tertiary education to all learners regardless of their background is a key priority for the Government.

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