Donna McGettigan (Clare, Sinn Fein)

Does the fact that we have to repeatedly bring forward this motion not show the Minister how important it is to us? It repeatedly has to be brought forward because of repeated broken promises by the Minister and the Government. That is why we have to come here, year in, year out, and that is why the students in the Visitors Gallery have to come here to watch us do this again.

I was the oldest of six children. When I was growing up, higher education was for the privileged. My mother could not afford to send me to college so it was a pipe dream. It was somewhere I might have wanted to go to but I could not. I could not afford to. I was stuck at home. I had to go out and work. Now, it looks like that is the way it is going to be again, where education is only for the privileged.

The Minister cannot say that those students in the Gallery are all wrong. They are all telling us that they are struggling. They are all telling us that they cannot afford an extra €1,000, and their parents and families are telling us the same story. I spoke to secondary school students two weeks ago. I asked them if they saw a future for themselves in Ireland and they said “No.” Not one of them said they could see a future for themselves in Ireland. That is shocking and very sad. One of the deepest conversations I had was with a 15-year-old. She said that it is not education that will get you somewhere in Ireland; it is luck and circumstance. For a 15-year-old to say that just shows us how things have gone wrong.

We are not saying that the Minister is not doing anything. We know that he is providing help but it is not enough. Certainty is what students and parents are looking for. Is it €2,000 or €3,000? That is what they want to know. They cannot go into a bank tomorrow and say they want to borrow €2,000 or €3,000. That is not the way it works.

Our proposals are fully costed by the Department of public expenditure. I know that because I have put in the questions. A Government Deputy earlier put forward the idea of blaming Fine Gael because they are the ones who promised this. Let me tell the Minister something. The two parties are both in government together. They both wrote the programme for Government. It is in black and white that they are going to reduce fees, not raise them.

I will tell the Minister once again. We are behind the students who are here tonight. We are behind their families. We need to stand up for them because the Minister is not doing that.

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