Fintan Warfield (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

This is the first day of the second semester for many students. The key question I am asking the Minister of State is whether he will engage with the universities. Not everybody signed up for online courses. People could have signed up for online courses. These fees are just completely unjustifiable.People are telling us they feel scammed. We need to do more than the €250 grant. I ask the Minister of State to intervene on this issue with the universities so they can act and help students who are struggling. Will he do that?

The Minister of State mentioned the student contribution charge which is, in effect, fees as far as people are concerned. His party is very proud of its record in education. I encourage him to make this one of his issues in government. Sinn Féin has consistently proposed in budget debates that we reduce the fee by €500 and I ask that the Minister of State consider doing that. I also ask that he engage with universities on this issue. People did not sign up for online courses.