Réada Cronin (Kildare North, Sinn Fein)

I too welcome the students to the Dáil. I listened to the Minister's speech and, like students up and down the country, I am none the wiser. Students have been left under serious pressure over the course of the past few weeks and their college term has not even begun yet. They are meant to be enjoying their summer holidays and getting a summer job. While many students and their families are stressing over the summer to try to secure whatever is left of the extortionately priced student accommodation, they now face the prospect of having to come up with an extra €1,000. Today, I spoke to Maeve Farrell, who is here, the newly elected president of Maynooth Students' Union, about the impact this is having on students who will be attending Maynooth University. She told me of the issues students are facing in housing, public transport and mental health, all of which need to be addressed urgently. On top of that, they now face the uncertainty of whether they will be charged €2,000 or €3,000. We still do not know. Students need that certainty now and it is sorely lacking from this Government. Families are already at their wits' end with the cost-of-living crisis that is affecting their pockets. They are now potentially being asked to find an extra €1,000 come September. This will impact on more than 15,000 students in Maynooth this year. For many, it will decide whether they can afford to go to college. It is completely unacceptable. The programme for Government promised fair and equal access to further and higher education, regardless of socioeconomic status, to ease the financial burden on students and families at the start of each academic year. Not only did this Government completely mislead students before the election about housing figures and student accommodation, but it is now continuing to mislead them after the election.

As for the Minister's partners in the Government, we could not turn on the radio last week without hearing a Fine Gael backbencher pretending that they care about student fees. Where are they tonight? They are certainly not here or willing to go on the Dáil record. This is very much a creation of their one-off cost-of-living measures. I would like to say, "We see you, Fine Gael", but I clearly cannot.

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