Laura Harmon (Labour)

I welcome the Minister of State. I would like clarity on the issue of student fees and supports. I was president of the national students' union, USI, ten years ago. Student fees, the cost of living, student housing and access to education were all issues then and are more prominent now than ever. It needs to be a priority for this Government. It is dismaying and alarming that the Minister for further and higher education, Deputy Lawless, went on the airwaves a couple of weeks ago and announced that there would be an increase in student fees of potentially €1,000 this September. There was previously a decrease in the fee but the decrease rowback is an increase. We have to call it out for what it is. What will the fee be for students going to college this September?

There has been a huge amount of miscommunication and a lack of clarity from the Government to students and their families. The Minister said one thing, while one of his colleagues in Fine Gael took to another radio show saying a different thing. In this Chamber, eight Fine Gael Senators consecutively said they disagreed with the Minister. They are in a Government party. We need clarity on what is happening. The people suffering are students and their families. They have been disrespected by this Government.

We need a plan for families. They need to be able to budget. The cost of living, rent and fuel costs are all rising. The cost of living is going up, not down, so I cannot see the justification for any change upwards in student fees. The programme for Government just six months ago committed to reducing the contribution fee over the lifetime of this Government. Increasing it is a poor start. I do not know how the Government will honour that commitment. It would be good to see a plan. To put it in context, the average rent in Cork city in €2,200 per month. UCC students' union in a survey last year found that 28% of students in UCC had gone to class hungry because of the cost of living. Student poverty is a real issue. We need more publicly owned student accommodation that is affordable. We are still waiting on the student accommodation strategy. We were told it would be ready before the summer and then that it would be the third quarter of this year. We need that concrete strategy in place. What will the fee be this September?

We need another Niamh Bhreathnach moment. We have surpluses. I do not understand why students and their families are the first in the firing line when we hear about things like tariffs. It was transformative to this society in the nineties when free fees were introduced. They were increased over a period but the late, great Niamh Bhreathnach had vision. It contributed hugely to the economic growth of this country in the nineties and into the noughties, much like free secondary level education did in the seventies. A third level qualification is now expected by many. It needs to be made as accessible as possible. We have among the highest fees in Europe. We are an outlier.The Cassells report and the OECD report have said we have among the highest student fees in Europe. I welcome the fact that efforts are being made to change the SUSI grant for the better through looking at adjacency rates. We need to look at estrangement as well in respect of who can access that grant. Ultimately, a promise was made regarding fees in the programme for Government so I ask for a reply on what the plan is and what the fee will be this coming September.