James Reilly (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Senator Murnane O'Connor made a very good contribution because she highlighted many of the issues that cause difficulty for people. Even with free education people struggle to meet the costs of travel and accommodation. It is very difficult to get accommodation in the larger urban conurbations, which is where all of our universities are located.

I will start at the beginning and touch on the same point that the last speaker mentioned. Let us remember that everybody goes to primary school and that we want everybody to go to secondary school but that not everybody goes to third level. When it comes to investment we must ensure the investment in the first two is right. I would like to see more focus on or at least equal status given to apprenticeships for carpenters, plumbers, fitters and various areas that are involved in business. As someone who has been through third level education, I believe there is a touch of intellectual snobbery when it come to trades versus the professions and others.

I agree with much of what Senator Ó Ríordáin had to say and that education is a great liberator, that knowledge is power and that education leads to knowledge and an ability to use knowledge. That is why I would personally like to see free third level education. However, this motion is premature in that it seeks to pre-empt the work of the joint committee which is considering how we can achieve the goal of making third level education available to all those who wish to avail of it. I do not want to be over political but I think it is wrong that the Labour Party would try to gazump the committee.

Fine Gael has been the party of a just society and equal opportunity. As somebody who believes in the basic foundations of our Republic in terms of equality and cherishing all of our children equally, I believe that everybody should get the same chance and that it should not be contingent on one's income. I am a parent of five adults. Having listened to Senator Norris I wish to say that two of my children went to Trinity.One of them is autistic and got great support there with the difficulties he faced because of his condition. He went on to graduate from Trinity so I commend that university for what it has done in this area. I also commend DCU for the initiative it is starting in the coming weeks to create an autism-friendly campus. This will support people on the spectrum, many of whom have tremendous talent. Many, however, are seriously challenged and third level is beyond their reach. I agree with my colleagues here. Of all the rights we have, the right to health care and the right to education are critical. These are basic rights that every citizen in our Republic should enjoy. We struggle with both and I would like to see both addressed.

The Labour Party motion addresses free third level education, which is something that we would all like to see. It does not, however, tell us how we are to achieve that. The Cassells report states that this would cost €1.3 billion per annum, while still providing for the level of investment needed by higher level education. There is a responsibility on any party calling for such a measure to show how that money will be acquired. I could go into a long list of areas competing for that money, but that would give the wrong message. The message I want to give here is that we need to be mature about this and give the committee time to do the work that we want it to do. We need to allow it to come back to us with its recommendation on how we can achieve the best outcome. I for one hope that that recommendation will indeed be that there be no fees. Young people face so many challenges in life already with the cost of accommodation, mortgages and child care. I do not want to see them with the further burden of a big student loan to pay off as they set off in life and look forward to starting a family. I do not want to see them looking forward to having the freedom to travel but then being afraid to come back.

I ask that we support the amendment so as to allow the committee, that all parties agreed to, to do its work. I do not understand where this motion is coming from when we have a committee in place to deliver what it is that we want.