Eoghan Kenny (Cork North-Central, Labour)
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97. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills for an update on the programme for Government commitment to continue to reduce the student contribution fee over the lifetime of the Government, as of July 2025; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37316/25]

Eoghan Kenny (Cork North-Central, Labour)
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I realise that we have just had a debate on this. I seek an update on the programme for Government to continue to reduce the student contribution fee over the lifetime of the Government, as of July 2025.

James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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I acknowledge the Deputy's integrity and interest in this subject. We have had a number of discussions on it in the past. The Deputy commented in the previous debate. Indeed, Deputy McGettigan did also, in fairness. Both Deputies, as spokespersons for their respective parties, engaged in the process constructively and I welcome that. I would ask that we continue that engagement.

When I publish the cost-of-education paper this summer, I would invite both of the Deputies and their parties to make submissions to it. Let us make them evidence based. Let us have the debate because it is a debate. Choices are not easy. This is the basis of politics. How do we distribute scarce resources? What decisions do we make about them? Who deserves them more? That is a reasonably strong political ethos to have and there are different answers to that depending on the different political philosophies. Let us engage on that, honestly and robustly, and have the debate because it is important.

Let me, again, reiterate my 100% commitment to the programme for Government in all its forms. It includes multiple commitments. It includes a commitment to continue to reduce the student contribution fee, of course, which I will do over the lifetime of the Government in a financially sustainable way. It also includes commitments to improve SUSI grants and SUSI supports. I intend to go further than that and reform the system. I also want to look at what is impactful, and other measures, targeted or non-targeted, and what is the policy objective that they result in.

I will produce the cost-of-education options paper which I have mentioned. I have also asked my Department to commission a piece of research about what are the levers that we can pull and what are the results of those levers. Ultimately, it is easy to call for things, but why, and what policy outcome do we want to see from them? That is an important question worthy of consideration. That piece of research will not be for this year's budget. That will be over the next 12 months but it will inform our decisions over the term ahead. In the meantime, I will go into budget 2026 this October fighting for students and families.

I have heard different stories through the Chamber. No student should miss out on a chance of education for financial want and if there are students in that situation, I need to see what is going wrong and why the system is failing. In circumstances where we have never paid more grants, we have never had such a high income threshold and we have never made so many contributions, how are people falling through the net? I accept that some are but I want to hear the detail of those cases so we can fix them.

Eoghan Kenny (Cork North-Central, Labour)
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I do not doubt the Minister's bona fides on this. It spans - the Minister referred to it there quite lightly - a number of Departments. We have significant challenges in housing. We have significant challenges in a different cost-of-living crises in terms of paying for groceries, for example, running a car, and the different type of relationship one has with parents at home on whether they are able to afford to contribute to one's living.

The Minister will agree that ensuring education is within reach for everyone will ultimately benefit our society and our economy. That is extremely important. If we can ensure that education is accessible and affordable to everybody in this society, it benefits Ireland as a whole in whatever aspect that may be with the understanding and realisation that, by increasing a student tuition fee, it creates an economic barrier for a lot of students. Although they may be able to access some bit of the grant, it still creates an economic barrier to that education that they so badly need.

James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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I appreciate that.

It is worth putting on record some of the increases that are already kicking in for this September. The threshold for 100% payment of the student contribution grant - this is aside from SUSI maintenance grants, which are paid out to help with the living expenses of students - rises from €55,924 to €64,315. That means that 44,500 extra people will now avail of a full student fees on top of the maintenance grant.

The 50% student contribution grant - the half-fees paid - threshold goes from €62,000 to €71,300. Almost 4,000 extra people will come into that net.

The €500 student contribution grant threshold will go from €100,000 to €115,000. Curiously, last year that measure was there and while 40,000 people were estimated to be eligible for it, only 18,000 applied. I do not know what is going on there. Perhaps there is a bit of work to do. I certainly intend to do it over the summer to highlight awareness of those measures. It begs the question. It is something we need to interrogate. I will run awareness campaigns and will engage with TDs in terms of getting information out there but we need to make sure people get the support that is available because a lot of support is being made available and not availed of.

Eoghan Kenny (Cork North-Central, Labour)
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The debate the Minister referred to in his first contribution is essential. It is important and we all need to contribute towards that.

The only question I have in relation to the student support facility that is in place is that the emails I am receiving tell me that they cannot afford this new measure and this new cost. I then go back to people and ask them whether they have applied for SUSI. They have applied for SUSI. They cannot access the full grant but still cannot afford the new increased cost. Unfortunately, that is the reality for families. It is unfortunate that we are living in a society like that where money is becoming a barrier to a child's education, particularly in the cases of families who have two, three or four children attending third level education. That has to be recognised. I welcome the fact that there have been increases to the thresholds of the SUSI grant scheme. I do not doubt for a minute that that is encouraging but it is this increase in the student fees that is very worrying for many families throughout the country.

James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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I acknowledge that. We have heard talk in the past week about a scheduled increase and a plan and an increase and an announcement of increases. Let us be clear. We have had none of that. There has been a lot of hyperbole. Some of the Opposition leaders and others have hyped it up a little bit. I suggest they listen to the interview that I gave on RTÉ and maybe read the transcript. I have a copy and I could make it available to anyone in the House who wants it. Let us be clear what I said. I said that we have a budgetary situation where the cost-of-living package that was available last year is not available this year, so we will look at the question again. On what do we do instead - I am very clear that I said that - we engage on the cost of education, we explore the budget process and we go in looking for the best outcome for students. We will look it across all the different measures and all the different costs across the line. That is what I said. I think that is reasonable and clear. It is still my absolute position. We did not need the alarm, panic, fear and doubt that, I accept, has been planted in students' minds unfairly. I answered a straight question with a straight answer. I said I was going to go into the budget process, as happened the previous three summers. Students have been under a disservice by the reaction that ensued, not by anyone here but in the wider system.