Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal West, Sinn Fein)

For many students, this €1,000 hike is not just a number on a page. It is the difference between accepting a college place and not; between staying in education and dropping out; between progress and paralysis. It is not about affordability alone. It is also about credibility and trust and the repeated failure of the Government to live up its own words. The 2020 and 2025 programmes for Government made clear promises to reduce fees, reform SUSI and invest properly in third level education. Fine Gael's own manifesto pledged to phase out fees entirely but instead of progress, we have now witnessed what looks like a complete roll back and a roll over on top of students. Instead of consultation there has been silence. The €1,000 reduction introduced in budget 2023 was presented as a meaningful step forward but it was temporary. It was not structural and now even that short-term relief has been taken away at a time when rents are soaring, groceries are hitting new highs and thousands of students are still waiting for basic SUSI grant reform.

The Minister says to students that the €1,000 reduction was a cost-of-living measure. I invite the Minister, when he makes his remarks, to look up at the students in the Public Gallery and ask them if their or their parents' cost-of-living crisis is over. He should ask these young people and their families if they can wait for months on end to find out what fees they will be paying next semester. They cannot wait. People are on low incomes. The working poor are a growing number under this Government. They cannot wait while the Government dithers. It is unfair. The cost-of-living crisis is very real. It is felt by the people in the Gallery and the people outside. Just because the Minister does not feel it or see it does not mean that it is not real. I invite the Minister to address his remarks to the people in the Gallery.

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