Michael Collins (Cork South-West, Independent Ireland Party)

I have attended most of the debates on college fees in the past week and the one thing I found was that nobody got clarity. This is a terribly unfair situation for parents to find themselves in. They are very concerned. There is no point in saying something here that is not true. Every politician, including the Ministers, must surely realise from emails the concerns of parents. In a message I received one morning last week, a west Cork lady informed me that the question of whether her child will go to college is down to whether her car will break down. That is a terrible situation for any government to put a family in. If the car breaks down, the child will not go to college. It is down to that and down to the bare minimum.

It tells me that this Government of Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and Independents is completely out of touch on the reality of the situation. They had ample opportunity last week and on numerous occasions to put the record right and at least ease the worries of the people.

I welcome all the students who are in the Gallery today. They are fighting for their future here. This Government wants to make sure to wreck their future and put them on a boat or a plane out of this country. That is a sad situation we are facing. If they do jump through the hoops right now, they will get caught on housing or something along the line to make sure the Government destroys their careers. At this present time, 48% of families are cutting back on essentials, including food, heat and electricity. Some 40% of parents went without food or borrowed money to feed children. One in three parents is falling behind in paying bills like energy and rent while 28% do not have enough food for their children. Some 76% of parents say their children's well-being is being harmed by rising costs. It goes on and on. The Government is totally, unbelievably out of touch with reality. If it does not look after the young people, where does it expect this country to go? Does it want them to stay at home from college? Is that the plan? Does it not want to help them going forward? No child in Ireland should go hungry, yet tens of thousands are. These students will be hungry next year because every one of them is at home. I am living with a student myself, Jessica, my partner's daughter, and her friend Isabella. They work during the summer to see if they can pay for the comforts they need. Those comforts are food, not anything else, just the basic, day-to-day foods. The Government is trying to make their lives a misery and make a decision sitting at the table as to whether they can continue in college or not. It is a despicable situation.

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