Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)

I commend the motion to the House. The Minister and the Government are all over the place when it comes to student fees. The Minister went on the national broadcaster and scared the bejeysus out of every student and parent across the State when he told them in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis that student fees were going to go up. It came like a bolt out of the blue for every parent listening to that. For those with two or three children at college, that is an extra €2,000 or €3,000 they needed to find on that Sunday morning because of this announcement.

Since then, the Government has been all over the place, with Government Members contradicting each other, trying to play this down and trying to talk about envelopes in Estimates. We had the Taoiseach talking about windows and all the rest. The reality is parents want clarity. Every single day in the Dáil last week and this week, we put the same question to the Government: will the fees be €2,000 or €3,000 next year? Not one Minister was able to answer that question because they all know the decision the Minister announced is the one that holds. September will see fees of €3,000.

Not since Ruairí Quinn broke the promise that he made in the 2011 election have students been so betrayed by a Minister for education - a Minister for higher education in this instance. He is absolutely blind to the suffering that is going on right across the board. People are really struggling with rents going up, with prices going up and now the Government wants student fees to go up. We say that people have had enough. That is why we, along with the students of Ireland and other parties in opposition, will fight this Government tooth and nail. It is simple: education is a right and should not be a privilege. Maybe from Government Buildings and the ivory towers that Ministers live in, they think it will be okay and that parents will be able to find an extra €1,000, €2,000 or €3,000.

The Minister should talk to the Minister for housing. What did he do? He unshackled the landlords against these students, the same students who come September will have no protection whatsoever and landlords will be allowed to jack up rents as high as they want. This is a full-on assault by this Government on the students of Ireland and we in Sinn Féin will not stand for it. That is why we tabled this motion. I plead with every single TD to have the backs of students just like Sinn Féin has, have the backs of their parents just like we in this party have, and do the right thing. They need to make sure that student fees are not increased this September. Indeed, as Sinn Féin has shown, we need to abolish them.

The Minister will say that the resources are scant. However, the Government gave a €160 million tax break to landlords last year, which is more than it would cost to reduce student fees. It gave a €180 million tax break to the banks that made €4 billion in profit, which is more than what it would need to reduce student fees. I know where my priorities and Sinn Féin's priorities are. Unfortunately, we have a Government which is always on the side not of students or those who find it difficult, but on the side of the elite, the landlords, the bankers and all the rest. We will fight it tooth and nail on this. It needs to do the right thing and scrap student fees. As a first step this September it should make sure they are not going up; they should be coming down.

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