Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
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19. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills his views on the restoration of postgraduate grants and their necessity to open up access to postgraduate studies and to ensure that a steady stream of persons achieve a postgraduate qualification for societal good and to ensure attractiveness to foreign investors. [28474/16]

Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
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I am glad Deputy Nolan agrees with the Fianna Fáil position on the ex quotaguidance counsellors. We are glad to have that support. It is one of the items in the confidence and supply agreement we have with the Government.

My question raises another issue that is in the confidence and supply agreement, namely, the restoration of postgraduate grants. I have seen that at first hand where employers in my constituency are crying out for graduate students. I am told that in some sectors in universities, graduate studies have got very quiet because of that. Some employers are paying for them themselves, but that is not sustainable on a broad basis.

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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Financial supports are currently available for approximately 2,300 postgraduate students who meet the eligibility criteria of the student grant scheme.

Postgraduate students who meet the qualifying conditions for the special rate of grant under the student grant scheme are eligible to have their postgraduate tuition fees paid up to the maximum fee limit of €6,270. Alternatively, a postgraduate student may qualify to have a €2,000 contribution made towards the cost of his or her fees. The income threshold for this payment is €31,500 for the current year, increasing relative to the number of family dependants.

The programme for Government contains a commitment to increase financial supports for postgraduate students, with a particular focus on those from low income households. The options for progressing this commitment are currently under consideration in my Department within the context of overall budgetary constraints and the large number of competing demands for available funding.

Funding for postgraduate students also needs to be viewed in the wider context of the overall funding available for the higher education sector. As we discussed earlier, the recently published Report of the Expert Group on Future Funding for Higher Education, which is going to the Oireachtas, raises the issue of how best to support students in a sustainable model of funding for the higher education sector.

Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister for that answer. It is a key priority for us. Almost all postgraduate maintenance grants, with the exception of the special grant, as the Minister mentioned, were removed in 2012. The special grant is for the extreme low end of the income spectrum and those very much most in need, but there is a huge number of other people who cannot afford to pursue postgraduate studies. In many cases, employers are looking to hire highly specialised graduates with postgraduate degrees, whether it be master's or doctorates. Apart from the societal and personal good that postgraduate study does, it is essential for our economic future to give as many people as possible the opportunity to pursue postgraduate studies. Taught postgraduate degrees are extremely high in cost. The removal of the grants was utterly inconsistent with the Government's stated approach, namely, that it was building a high skills, so-called smart economy. It was the opposite of smart. They say that smart flies Aer Lingus. The truth is that smart does not abolish postgraduate grants. It has an observable negative effect on participation rates in postgraduate education, and as told anecdotally by those students in and out of university.

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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The total number of postgraduate students is 37,000, made up of approximately 22,500 full-time and just over 15,000 part-time. That figure has grown by 8% since 2010-11.

I recognise the importance of postgraduate study. It has been influential in the significant role played by Springboard in recent years where a postgraduate option to allow people retrain has been very successful: its participation has been up to 9,000 per year. Not all of those would be classified as postgraduate in the traditional sense, but there have been a number of investments in this area. I recognise the need to invest in this area and to start that process of supporting students to a better level who want to do postgraduate study. It is part of the programme for Government. I know many other Members share the Deputy's ambition with regard to this issue. It is an area we will have to address over time with resources as they become available.

Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
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We certainly look forward to sitting back on budget votes, with substantial progress having been made on some of these items. In fairness to the Minister, he recognises that the confidence and supply agreement is the fundamental basis on which the Government operates and that the policy options we have negotiated with the Government, and the Fine Gael Party in particular, need to show signs of being implemented. That includes the ex quotaguidance counsellors mentioned and postgraduate grants.

While Fianna Fáil is aware of the financial circumstances that exist, we also are aware that a massive shift in direction must be undertaken. Fianna Fáil hopes and expects that substantial progress will be made next week when its Members will be happy to press that new "Staon" button, if there are any votes that require it.

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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I will not comment. I am aware Deputy Thomas Byrne and his party have made comments about the budget across a range of different areas and I would not like to be doing the totting of the total from higher education and postgraduates to pensions and so on.

Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
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According to the Irish Independent, it is a quarter of what Ministers themselves have sought.

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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However, I recognise this reflects genuine pressures and needs. There has been almost a lost decade in which investment all Members of this House would have liked to have made could not be made. The Government must try to cut its cloth to make the investment over the coming years in those areas in which it can have the greatest impact. I recognise that priorities have been set out here and the Government must try to accommodate them as best it can over a period of three to five years.

Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
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Three years of a confidence and supply agreement.