Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)

Tá cinneadh an Rialtais chun táillí coláiste a ardú €1,000 craiceáilte. Is feall scannalach é ar mhic léinn agus ar a muintir. Cuirfidh sé brú sa bhreis orthu fad agus atá siad ag streachailt leis an ghéarchéim chostas maireachtála. For months we have listened for months to the Government telling us how it has students' backs. It has a very funny way of showing it. First the Government decided to hit students and their families with big rent increases and now Fianna Fáil's Minister for higher education, Deputy Lawless, has announced that the Government is going to hike up student fees by €1,000 this September. That is a double whammy.

The Government faces a massive public backlash. As with its madcap rent plan a couple of weeks ago, it is now scrambling around looking for cover. It is total incompetence again from this Government. The Fianna Fáil Minister could not have been clearer. Fees are going up by €1,000 in September. This is just the latest from this Government that is choosing to increase prices for folks in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis. In the past number of weeks alone, it chose to hike up the extortionate rents, to hike up the price of petrol, diesel and home heating oil and to hike up the price of the local property tax. Nobody else did this. These were all Government decisions.

As if families were not hurting enough and as if they were not being squeezed enough, the Government comes along with this mad idea to increase the bill for a family sending their son or daughter to college by €1,000. Does the Minister simply not get it? Sending a kid to college is already costing families an arm and a leg. Many of them are pushed to the pin of their collar just to do that. Hitting them with an extra €1,000 will make going to college impossible for many.

No wonder young people are leaving this country in their droves. This Government is determined to mess things up for them in the here and now, right here at home. It is hell bent on ensuring that this country is no country for young people. All this is happening at a time of a massive budgetary surplus of €8.5 billion. The State has never been wealthier. Yet, the Government comes along with this mad idea about taking an extra €1,000 and hiking student fees by that amount. We should be scrapping fees not just for students but also for apprenticeships. We need to make education affordable. That is what a Government on the side of young people would do. It would show them that they matter. It would give them the hope that they can build a good future in their own country.

Aontas na Mac Léinn in Éirinn has called this right. The Students' Union of Ireland has called this absolutely right. It was spot-on when it described the plan to jack up third level fees by €1,000 as a calculated betrayal of students. The public needs clarity. Throughout the State, parents and students are worried about this. Last night, for example, we were contacted by a father who is working every hour that God sends him to put his three children through college. He contacted one of the Government TDs and asked a very simple question. In September, will he have to pay €3,000 per child for student fees, or €2,000? The Government TD could not answer. He got no clarity whatsoever; he got no answer. He does not have an extra €3,000. This is a family beside itself with worry and concern. So many thousands of other families are in the same situation.

Students and their families have had enough and cannot take anymore. I want the Minister to be very clear, put this issue to bed and give clarity to the parents and students out there. When a student gets his or her bill of fees in September, will it cost €2,000 or €3,000? They demand clarity and the Minister should give it now.

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