Jen Cummins (Dublin South Central, Social Democrats)

That is very welcome but words are one thing. We need action. I did not come in here to lecture the Minister, although I was a lecturer in DCU and as was my educational role previously, I will set some things out. Sometimes in this House, we forget what the rights of young people are. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights explicitly states that everyone has the right to education and that education is crucial for the realisation of human rights, such as the right to participate in society, the right to work and the right to work. Education empowers individuals, helping them to develop their skills and knowledge, and enables them to reach their full potential. Education is a powerful tool for lifting people out of poverty and promoting social equality and gender equality.

Quality education is essential for achieving sustainable development goals and building peaceful, just and inclusive societies. In order for the right to education to be seen, education systems must be available to all with adequate infrastructure, resources and trained teachers. Education must be accessible to all, without discrimination based on gender, race, religion, socioeconomic status and other factors. Education provided must be relevant, culturally appropriate and of good quality. It must be flexible and able to adapt to the changing needs of individuals and society. I am calling that out just to say it again. We have signed up to this. We must follow this. We must do everything we can to make sure that everybody in this country who wants to have a third level education can get one. It has been mentioned previously that when it came to second level education being made free, people were not happy about it then. There was a snobbery around it and it is the same for third level now. That is our thing in 2025. There is snobbery around this or there is an inability or unwillingness to do it. We can do it and we should do it.

In an education setting, we often highlight that John Dewey said: “Education is a social process; education is growth; education is not preparation for life but is life itself.” If we take those words and we look at why we are educating people, it is not to send them into industry or do all of those things. It is great if that is a by-product of that but students who are sitting here in this Gallery, sitting at home and working away doing whatever they are doing need to be afforded the ability to enhance their learning and love of learning. You might call me a bit romantic in thinking that our education system should function on the fact we want to learn for the love of learning, we want to enhance ourselves and our society and we want to have the time to explore and the freedom to develop thoughts, hypotheses and time to create and innovate. However, I am afraid the students I meet are not able to do that because they are so busy working and worrying about the fact they cannot afford accommodation, travel and groceries.

Students pay a contribution fee that far exceeds other countries. In Germany, that fee is €300 to €700 per year. In the Nordic countries, tuition is free. There is no student contribution either. Everybody raves about Finland. We want that here. We should copy the things that are going well in other countries and replicate them. We should not look to other models where we have a neoliberal - I do not really like that term - way of looking at education. That is not the model we should follow. The cost of transport for students in Ireland is about €100 per month. For students in Germany, many public universities give a semester pass of between €150 and €350 that covers all the local buses, trams and whatever you are having yourself. Public transport in Finland is €55 to €70 a month. As was mentioned previously, accommodation in my constituency of Dublin South Central is €1,200 a month. If you are in Berlin, it is €300 to €400. The rents are astronomical here in comparison to other countries.

Then there are groceries. The fact is 70% of people in Ireland are either extremely or very concerned about the cost of groceries. This includes students. They have to eat as well. They have their households as well. They are not just an extension of their parents and their parents do not do their shopping for them and say, "There you go [son or daughter], off you go." They may not be living in the same county as their parents. We really need to take into consideration that whatever affects us, affects students but it affects them even more because they do not have savings, permanent jobs or permanent contracts and all those things. They are there to study; they are not there to work. Work comes later.

Families are spending approximately €3,000 more annually than they were in 2021 on groceries. Grocery prices have increased by 40%. When this affect students, it is another thing they need to worry about. There is then the number of young people and children who are living in consistent poverty. There were 100,000 of them in 2024. According to the Children's Rights Alliance CEO, the cumulative impact of continued rising costs has created a landslide effect for low-income families meaning that ensuring basic necessities, such as nutritious food or a warm home, has become increasingly difficult. Today, we read a report from Barnardos stating that parents have gone without meals or reduced the size of their meals so they can feed their own children, as any parent would do if they were faced with that absolutely horrific situation, and 12% of respondents said they use a food bank. If students are asked, that percentage is probably higher. I do not know what families can do if they are facing those sort of things. How can they even think about third level? I know there is a SUSI grant but not everybody meets the grant eligibility. People fall through the cracks and we need to make sure we capture them. Raising fees by €1,000 will not help that in any way.

I want to address the payment in instalments proposal. It is fine if people have money. There are two flashpoints for families who are budgeting; September and January. September follows the summer holidays, which is a really expensive time for families. In January, there have been the winter festivities and all that comes with that. It is also the coldest part of the year so the heating will be on, if people can afford it. Knowing whether they will pay that money or not makes a huge impact on families. We need to be really careful that saying things like we can pay by instalment does not suit everybody. That instalment in September will be difficult enough. In January, that instalment will be almost impossible for many families. We need to be really careful.

Finally, we need to look at the cost of third level institutes and the funding they get. It is not the responsibility of third level students to fund our universities. That is the job of the Government. That is why we pay taxes. It is a public service we need to fund and we need to look at the fact that Finland spends 1.6% of its GDP, Germany spends 1.2% of its GDP and we spend 0.9% of our GDP on tertiary education. We need to address that. There is an issue that has not been discussed here with regard to third level education but the students present and the students around the country are not the ones who need to fund that. It is a public good we need to fund and it needs to be funded centrally.

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