James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)

That is not quite the question the Deputy asked but I will answer. The question she asked concerned the cost of third level fees. My Department provides significant funding for tuition fee supports for students every year, including funding under the free fees initiative, which are sometimes referred to as tuition fees. Every undergraduate student in the State, bar certain exceptions such as those studying a second time or international students, has their tuition fees paid in full by my Department. There are also things like the student grant scheme, Springboard and a student contribution fee, which is on top of the tuition fees which are paid in full.

Despite being referred to as free fees, someone has to pay for them. The State pays for them, and is glad to do so. Last year, the cost was €628 million. The fee for the 2025-26 year is not yet known because we are still in it. It is expected to be of a similar magnitude. We arrived at that figure through a number of ways. The free fees initiative and tuition fees come to a cost of €380 million. The contribution fee was €147 million last year, when there was €1,000 to address the cost of living. The student contribution fees paid by SUSI come to €101 million. That adds up to €628 million. That is the figure the Deputy asked for in terms of cost.

Sinn Féin's prebudget submission suggested that we cut the cost in years one and two by €1,500 and abolish fees in years three, four and five. That would cost about €1.6 billion. It is not clear whether the proposal extended to apprenticeships and postgraduate qualifications, etc. I would welcome clarification on that from the Deputy. What would we cut by €1.6 billion in order to do that? I would be interested in hearing the views of the Deputy on that. Perhaps I will come back to the other points in supplementary replies because the clock is ticking.

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