Martin Browne (Tipperary, Sinn Fein)
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1034. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills his plans to address the high cost of third-level fees here; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30661/21]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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My Department's Statement of Strategy, which I published on 8 March last contains a commitment to put in place a sustainable funding model for the higher education. This is essential in ensuring that our higher education institutions can effectively meet high standards of quality and performance, and achieve critical outcomes for our economy and society.

A comprehensive economic evaluation of the funding options contained in the Cassells Review was commissioned by the European Commission and undertaken by independent expert consultants. This review is currently being finalised.

This analysis highlights the high level of fees support amounting to in excess of €500m per annum provided by the State for large numbers of students participating in higher education. This comprises of funding for tuition fees of almost 140,000 eligible undergraduate higher education students with over 60,000 students having all or part of the €3,000 student contribution paid on their behalf under the Student Grant Scheme.

This substantial funding support has played a very important role in enabling access to and growth in higher education in Ireland. As the Deputy will be aware, higher education which was previously the preserve of a relatively small proportion of the school leaving population is now much more widely available, as reflected in the current high transfer rate from second to third level in comparison with other EU countries.

The combined impact of these supports and initiatives highlight the strength of the Government's commitment to supporting students in meeting the costs of third level education. I look forward to the completion of the funding review which will provide the basis for determining how best additional investment in higher education can meet future requirements, in particular in supporting access to higher education in terms of the totality of the costs of participation. This is an essential to meeting a core objective of my mission as Minister is that everyone regardless of their background, age, gender, or address achieves their best potential.