Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Dublin Bay North, Labour)
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54. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the reason students who have previously sat a year in a different course were excluded from the €1,000 discount on third levels fees when they are subject to the same cost of living pressures as everyone else. [7502/23]

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Dublin Bay North, Labour)
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I ask the Minister the reason students who have previously sat a year in a different course were excluded from the €1,000 discount on third levels fees when they are subject to the same cost of living pressures as everyone else.

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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As I am conscious this is the first time we have had an opportunity to take questions on fees in college since the passing of Deputy Ó Ríordáin's colleague, and our former Minister for Education, Niamh Bhreathnach, I take this opportunity to pay tribute to her and extend my condolences to her family, friends, to her Labour Party family and to the Deputy. Anytime we talk about fees, I am conscious of her very strong legacy. While the Deputy and I might debate how best to get there, we share a view that we need to do everything we can to reduce cost as a barrier. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a hanam dílis.

As the Deputy knows, the Government has introduced a range of measures to support people with the cost of living. As part of this, we introduced a significant package to try to reduce the cost of going to college this year and the package provided for adjustments, including once-off measures. This included a once-off reducing of €1,000 in the student contribution rate payable by students eligible for free tuition fees under the Department's free fees initiative for this academic year. A key principle of the design of the free fees initiative is to encourage progression, that is, to support students in progressing through their chosen course of study from year to year.

As a result, students are not typically supported under the free fees initiative for a repeat period of study or a different course at the same level.

While I feel there are a few anomalies we need to address, in terms of students who move from one course to the next, the age at which they can move and the length of time they need to be out, it is a statement of fact that at the moment the free fees initiative does not allow for a repeat period of study or another first or second year. As a result of that, the students who are in such a situation did not qualify for the criteria set down by the scheme. It is that honest an answer, while I understand their frustration.

We have moved to try to support students in other ways through significantly topping up the student assistance fund to over €20 million for this academic year, the highest amount ever provided for under the fund. We have also made sure that students now qualify for the rent credit, which was not necessarily clear on budget day. We made sure it was through the Finance Bill.

There was a once-off reduction of €1,000 in the contribution this year. As I said on budget day last year and will say again, we are only warming up in terms of reducing the cost of education and fees. I will certainly reflect on those involved in repeat study as we prepare for the next Estimates process.

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Dublin Bay North, Labour)
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I very much appreciate the comments of the Minister on the former Minister, Niamh Breathnach. I know her family will as well. One of the radical things she did as Minister for Education was to abolish fees, something from which I benefited, as did many of my colleagues and friends. The debate was lost over the previous 25 years when registration fees crept up. People are now spending thousands of euro a year on fees.

Be that as it may, we are talking about a small cohort of students. It was a welcome measure. I know there is frustration in government that when something is announced there will always be a member of the Opposition who will say it is all very well but it should be tweaked more and the focus is on the negative. What the Minister did was welcome and things are going in the right direction. The Minister is making all of the right noises in terms of reducing third level fees to where they were 25 years ago. Does the Minister not feel that an additional measure or gesture could be made from Government to reduce the fees of a small cohort of students by €1,000, in line with everybody else?

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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I take the point the Deputy has made. In an ideal world this is an area I would like to move on. I am constrained by the decision that we made to hinge this on the free fees initiative. I must be honest; a number of students fell outside the qualifying criteria, namely, students attending private colleges or colleges that do not qualify for free fees or who repeated a year in the same course or a different one.

It is a thread that if I pull has more budgetary consequences than one might think looking initially at any one measure in isolation. It is something I will keep under review through the course of the year. Last year there were some underspends in SUSI and the like. If there are measures I can take later in the year, I will certainly consider that. We will make sure all of the funding allocated to assist students is spent and there if room to address this later in the year it is something I will keep under review.

We will publish a cost of education paper a lot earlier this year than we did last year in advance of the budget on the further options we can take to reduce the cost of education. We can tease through these issues then.

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Dublin Bay North, Labour)
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Over a period we want to achieve, at all levels of education, be it primary, secondary, third level and further education, a situation whereby nobody has to consider costs when it comes to furthering their education journey. It should never come into the conversation. It is depressing that people always have to think about the cost of education to a family when it should instead be about trying to fulfil their potential. However, when there is a price tag attached and question marks over whether a family or individual can reach that price, we have failed collectively.

If he cannot address this now, can the Minister ensure in the next budget recycle, as we move towards a new announcement in September, that all of the loopholes will be dealt with and this cohort of students will benefit? If the Minister could not do it this time, can he commit to reviewing the current system in order that students who start first year again can be included in a further scheme?

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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I am uncomfortable with how repeat students in general are treated by the system because there can be a whole variety of reasons somebody starts one course and wishes to move to another. That is life. Things can happen in somebody's family life and in terms of health. There are reasons people have to move. I have an openness on that..

I spoke about a once-off reduction of €1,000, which is true. We have made a permanent reduction of €500 in fees for anyone earning less than €100,000 in terms of family income. That is a mechanism I want to build on in future budgets. Could the €500 figure change or the €100,000 figures go up a little more to make sure that two public servants married to each other do not fall just outside the gross income limit? We can consider things within that formula.

SUSI needs an overhaul. We need to make sure that the means test is not too mean. I want to take another look at that in advance of the budget. An overhaul of SUSI and continually trying to reduce the fees are the two areas on which I am going to focus. We will publish a cost of education paper in the autumn.