Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)

We are now on day nine of this fiasco. Time and again last week and even this afternoon in the Dáil, the mantra “the normal budgetary process” has been trotted out by the Taoiseach, Tánaiste, and the Ministers for Finance, public expenditure and further and higher education. Yes, there is a normal budgetary process but we are far outside that process on the single issue of what the student contribution will be next year. The blame for that lies with the Minister, Deputy Lawless. Nobody made him drop his bombshell last Sunday week. He made a decision on intervening and on making his bold statement. That was when he should have deployed the phrase "the normal budgetary process", not cause the confusion of the past nine days.

The blame does not lie with him alone. The Tánaiste's voicemail that was widely distributed among journalists certainly did not help. At a time when we see Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael bickering with each other, we see the impact on students and their parents and the hardship they are facing and suffering all over the country. The Minister's coalition is leaking and creaking, and students and parents are suffering.

So, what do we do now? I have been in the Minister's position of trying to negotiate a budget and know it is difficult and a huge challenge and that one has to fence off the various demands over the course of a year, particularly as one gets closer to the budgetary process. However, the Government, including the Minister, owes students certainty on this issue. The right thing to do is to step beyond the mantra "the normal budgetary process" and tell students what they will owe this September. This has been an unforced error by the Government and it is right to fix it now. The Government, including the Minister, owes students an apology. I have no doubt that, like me, he is getting emails from students and particularly from parents – parents for whom the student contribution is a struggle but one they make every year because they know the importance of education and want to support their sons and daughters in the next stage of their lives. Those parents will still make it even if it is €1,000 or €500 extra, or whatever the figure is, but it will mean an extra sacrifice in the weeks and months to come. They are entitled to know what that actual cost will be.

This has been a messy episode but it is okay to recognise that and that there has been an error. However, importantly, it is right and proper to correct the error. That error can be corrected tonight in this Chamber by the Minister or his colleague in the wrap-up speech through a clear statement as to what students will owe in September of this year. He should please do the right thing.

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