Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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Question 7: To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if he will review and honour the pledge he made in February 2011, and reverse the €500 increase in the student contribution fee. [19166/11]

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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The economic circumstances of the country are such that the decision by the previous Government to introduce a new student contribution charge of €2,000 from this September cannot be reversed. The programme for Government commits the Government to implementing the decisions of the 2011 budget, which was passed by the last Dáil.

The new student contribution will replace the previous student services charge and will apply to students who qualify for free fees. The contribution will be paid by the Exchequer on behalf of student grant holders who last year amounted to some 46% of students in receipt of free fees. Conscious of financial pressures on families, an additional category, 50% student contribution, has been included in the student grants scheme. Tax relief provisions have also been put in place in order that second and subsequent siblings will not have to bear the full cost increase. Institutions have also been asked to allow students to pay the contribution in two parts.

Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein)
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Most families try, when their kids enter education, to budget for it over a number of years. However, having established that budget, many families now unfortunately are being obliged to pull their children out of education. In the case of one family with which I am familiar, it was a question of which child would be taken out of education. I refer to the pledge that was made and while I do not put it on the record of the House to embarrass anyone, does the Minister not accept the difficulty facing many students is that they and their families are in a worse position financially this year than was the case last year when the pledge was made? This is the great difficulty faced by such students, many of whom now face being obliged to withdraw from education. Moreover, the difficulty for many families will be to decide which son or daughter will be pulled out of education.

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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The decision to increase the student contribution from €1,500 to €2,000 was made in December 2010. The election took place in February and the programme for Government adopted in full - because the incoming Government had no other option - the entire array of economic decisions contained in that budget of 2011. This included the increase by one third of the student service charge as it then was termed and which now properly and accurately is called the student contribution. As for time to prepare, a minimum of nine months has been put in place to enable families to prepare for what will be a difficult year for them and for everyone else. I accept this will be an extremely difficult time for some families. However, if the economic circumstances of a family have deteriorated, the son or daughter in question then will be, all else being equal, in a position to apply for a student grant. Moreover, the family's income threshold could be such that not only will the student get the grant but the student contribution also will be paid.

Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein)
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As the Minister is aware, the difficulty will be with the grey areas and will affect those people who are on the edge or who are just outside the limit. However, the problem is worsening and increasing numbers of families and students are coming forward in this regard. Another difficulty arises in respect of some students who are lone parents but who also fall outside such thresholds. They claim that their chances of moving to full-time education, moving on with their lives and breaking the cycle of familial poverty will be gone because of the contribution fee being introduced by the Government. I note that no body or group is offering supports in this regard at present. A number of years ago, people could approach student unions and so on with such difficulties but the student unions now state the funds simply are not there because of the demand.

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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The Deputy from Dublin South-West is articulating what the loss of economic sovereignty means. This is the point this country has reached and this is what the loss of control over our own cheque book actually means. The Government is constrained in these circumstances. I am determined to return to a point at which the Government has the economic freedom to make freely-determined decisions based on priorities it would determine. However, we are not there yet and the next two budgets must ensure we reach that point quickly.