Donna McGettigan (Clare, Sinn Fein)

From talking to students and students’ unions in the aftermath of this budget, I have discovered that they feel they are being treated very poorly. Has the Minister spoken with them or heard what they have to say? One students’ union wishes to know whether he is a magician in view of the fact that he is turning a €500 increase into a reduction. There are second and third level students who have never had to pay student fees of €3,000; they have only paid €2,000. Now, however, they will have to pay €2,500. Maybe that would represent a reduction in some type of Narnia fantasy land. In reality, however, it is a hike for students who earlier this year took to the streets to protest against such a hike. These are students who are struggling to make ends meet as it is and whose families are trying their best to help with college fees, food and transport. Some students have to work long hours in order to help pay their fees, while others face long commutes. There are students who are couch surfing or living in their cars because they either cannot find accommodation or it is just too bloody expensive for them. What are these students supposed to do to meet an additional expense of €500?

While I welcome the news that the budget will support an increase in annual apprentice registration towards a target of 12,500, the detail will be telling. As we know, the apprenticeship system has had problems with backlogs and dropouts for years. Some apprenticeships take years to complete. This means that participating can sometimes be on pay that is below the minimum wage for a number of years. I also welcome that grants and threshold levels are up. Once again, time will tell whether they will work.

Let us talk about accommodation. The Minister did not mention accommodation. It is not mentioned in the budget either. Accommodation is another massive issue for students. Besides fees, students and their families are struggling with the cost of accommodation, but I do not see much mention of student accommodation coming down the line. The Minister for public expenditure, Deputy Chambers, mentioned student accommodation in Maynooth, which has already been delivered, and UCD, which is in the process of being delivered. There was no mention of DCU or the technological universities being able to borrow money. A total of €100 million was previously allocated in respect of the delivery of 1,016 beds. This was, of course, welcome. Only 116 of those beds have been delivered so far, however. The national student accommodation strategy set a target of 21,000 additional purpose-built student accommodation beds by 2024, but only approximately 14,600 new bed spaces were delivered within that timeframe. That is another target missed. The Government could have added millions of euro extra to help commence the building of more student beds, both for universities and technological universities, but it did not do so.

With the ever-rising cost of food, petrol, diesel, rent, insurance and energy, there is no end in sight, particularly as there is no tax cut for workers and an increase in the pension that would not even cover the cost of food inflation. In addition, people are going to have to pay extra local property tax on their homes. The Government could have chosen to side with the people who it says it understands are struggling, but it did not do so. People see landlords, developers and banks getting deals on the taxes they are burdened with Is it any wonder there is a lot of anger out there?

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