Paul Gavan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I join will all colleagues in congratulating the two teams who have done us proud over the past few days. I am looking forward to the match on Sunday, in particular, and hopefully we will get a positive result. Regardless of the result we will support our team. It would be nice to get back at France for the infamous hand ball incident.

Yesterday, I met Mr. Kevin Donoghue who is president of the USI. We spoke about their key issues and core requests. We, in Sinn Féin, stand with them in support of their key demands. The USI has simply asked for affordable third level education. We do not have that in this country. Instead, we have hundreds of students dropping out of third level education because they cannot afford the registration fees. The USI has carried out a study on fees that shows almost nine out of ten students fear dropping out of college due to financial reasons. Students are missing lectures and working during exam seasons just to scramble enough money together to pay their fees. The stress that puts on students is pushing them to breaking point with three out of four students saying they have considered dropping out. The fear that these students live with is a direct result of regressive education cuts made by the last Government and, unfortunately, that appears to be continuing under the new Government. I ask the Leader to call the Minister for Education and Skills into this House for a debate on this important issue.