James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)

I thank the Deputy. I welcome the opportunity to make a few remarks on this issue. I hope it is well understood, but I will restate it, that the starting point for this year's budget was that no provision was made for a continual reduction of student fees. There was a once-off measure in last year's budget, which did not carry over to the following year. It was once-off funding that was there during the cost-of-living crisis. It was understandable at times of extreme pressure that this was advanced but I was determined when I came into the Department and was raising my first budget to put measures on a permanent, sustainable costed basis. That was in the Department baseline. That would be repeated year on year and we would avoid the uncertainty and anxiety of students and families every summer wondering if the Government would or would not do this.

With that, I have managed to achieve a €500 permanent reduction in student fees, starting this year. That is accompanied by targeted measures such as increasing maintenance grants at all levels of non-adjacency from the special rate up, increasing the thresholds so that more people than ever before are now eligible for grant support, additional moneys for students with disabilities and into mental health support, and a variety of other new measures targeted to give the most support to those who need it most. We now have a situation where households earning up to €120,000 can benefit from some form of fee support or grant support. Indeed, many students have their fees paid in full already. It is worth saying that under the system, which is a means-tested and progressive system, families with low incomes or those at risk of poverty should not be paying any fees at all. If they are, something has gone wrong. I have invited any individual circumstances to be brought to my attention and we can investigate what might be going on there. Fees are a challenge for middle and higher income families. I absolutely accept that. That is why I have cut fees by €500 this year and raised the threshold to €120,000 so that a family on €119,000 will now have a €500 fee permanent cut and a €500 fee grant, meaning that they are paying €2,000 this year, the same as they did last year.

I will come back to the Deputy with supplementary comments.

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