Laura Harmon (Labour)

I speak about two issues. The first relates to student fees. As we heard over the weekend, the Minister, Deputy Lawless, announced the intention to again increase student fees by €1,000 in the upcoming budget. I have been contacted by many students and families over the past 48 hours who are extremely stressed and worried about this and the lack of clarity in relation to it. We know from a study last year by UCC students' union that more than a quarter of students have gone to class hungry. We know that rents are rising. In Cork alone, the average rent is €2,200 per month. There is still a cost-of-living issue in this country, and we know it often takes families to put a student through college. I note at the end of 2024 there was an accumulated surplus of €1.8 billion in the National Training Fund.Perhaps this is something that could be looked at as it needs to be spent on educational purposes, and the cost of the €1,000 fee increase is estimated at €99 million. There has been a lot of flip-flopping on this issue. The programme for Government from six months ago states that the student contribution will be decreased over the lifetime of the Government. Starting with an increase of €1,000 is a very poor beginning. I will be the first person to commend the Minister, Deputy Lawless, if he can fight for this budget as Minister. Not everybody within the Government is in agreement. The Opposition will hold a protest at 6 p.m next Tuesday outside the gates of Leinster House. I spoke to all Opposition spokespersons on further and higher education yesterday, and we will be joined by the Union of Students in Ireland, as well as students and their families. That will happen at 6 p.m. next Wednesday and I would like to extend the invitation to Fine Gael. If its members would like to join us, they will be more than welcome. Something needs to be done on this. Students have been let down in recent weeks. There was also flip-flopping in the context of the comments of the Minister, Deputy Browne, who stated there would be protections for student renters, but those protections were not introduced as part of recent legislation .

The second thing I wish to address is Bessborough. I was at the Bessborough mother and baby home commemoration on Saturday and I was deeply moved by the stories from survivors and campaigners. It was great to see the Taoiseach there lending his support as well. I note that 923 children whom we know of died at Bessborough, as well as 31 women. Many of them are missing in the sense that we do not know where they are buried. It is very important that not a single shovel is laid down on that site and nothing is built upon it. It needs to be preserved as sacred ground. I absolutely support the calls from campaigners and survivors in respect of that. Bessborough mother and baby home only closed in 1998 so this is a huge part of our recent history that we need to reckon with.