Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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933. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the estimated full-year cost of ensuring all postgraduate research students receive a full-year €28,000 stipend; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24073/23]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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I would like to specify to the Deputy that the figures provided below should be considered indicative only.

There are approximately 10,000 PhD enrolments at present in Ireland. Approximately 6,000 of these are in receipt of a stipend – either from Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) or the Irish Research Council (IRC), other public funders such as Teagasc or the Health Research Board (HRB), or from the higher education institutions themselves.

SFI and and the IRC fund circa 3,000 PhD students and the current stipend is €19,000 annually. Other public funders fund circa 1,000 PhD students and the current stipend is in the region of €18,500 annually.

If a €28,000 stipend were to be awarded to these 4,000 stipend recipients, the additional annual budgetary requirement would be €36,500,000 per annum.

Given that the current annual cost is estimated at €75,500,000, the hypothetical total full year annual cost for these students would be €112,000,000.

Higher education institutions fund circa 2,000 PhD students directly. Stipends from these institutions vary significantly both between and within institutions. My Department is conducting a review of supports for PhD researchers which will provide additional information on these stipend levels. For this reason, an indicative adjustment cost is not provided now.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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934. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the estimated full-year cost of providing a funded psychology postgraduate course for counselling, education and clinical services; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24074/23]

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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935. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the estimated full-year cost of abolishing postgraduate third-level registration and tuition fees, including the associated reduction in the student support grant; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24075/23]

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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936. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the estimated full-year cost of abolishing third-level registration fees for all EU students; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24076/23]

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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937. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the estimated full-year cost of abolishing tuition fees for postgraduate courses; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24078/23]

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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938. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the estimated full-year cost of abolishing tuition fees for mature or repeating students; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24079/23]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 934, 935, 936, 937 and 938 together.

I thank the Deputy for raising matters in relation to the cost of supporting students with tuition fees and other higher education costs.

I am acutely conscious of the challenges facing students and the need for the progressive implementation of measures to address cost as a barrier to education. I also recognise that costs are not limited to tuition fees payable by students and that students have real cost of living challenges such as fuel, food or accommodation and have specific costs associated with their courses such as books or materials.

In May 2022, I launched Funding the Future, a landmark funding and reform framework for higher education. I also set out my intention to advance a progressive range of measures to address cost as a barrier to education, in the context of overall budgetary decision-making. The Government has now made important decisions about a sustainable model of funding for the higher education into the future. Critically, we have definitively taken income contingent student loans off the table. We have instead chosen a mixed model of investment, which includes funding from the Exchequer, employers and from students.

In Budget 2023 we introduced a range of once off supports for students as part of the Government cost of living packages for students. In addition we introduced a range of changes to the student grant scheme including increasing maintenance grant rates from January 2023. A further range of improvements to the student grant scheme will take effect for the 2023/24 academic year, including:

• An increase in income limit from €55,240 to €62,000 for the 50% student contribution grant;
• A new student contribution grant of €500 for incomes between €62,000 and €100,000;
• An increase to the postgraduate fee grant by €500 on 2022 levels from €3,500 to €4,000;
• A reduction in the eligibility for second chance mature students from 5 to 3 years;
• Exclusion of up to €14,000 rental income earned under Rent-a-Room Relief Scheme from reckonable income;
• An increase in student earnings outside of term time from €4,500 to €6,552; and
• A greater degree of flexibility for students who may have a long term social welfare payment but are falling outside of the special rate (this will allow a small increase on the income threshold for the special rate if a family has 4 or more children and/or has two or more students in college).

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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939. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the estimated full-year cost of ensuring that the maintenance grants for both undergraduate and postgraduate students are doubled, and that the adjacent rate is reduced to 24km; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24080/23]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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In advance of Budget 2024 this autumn, and as I did last year, I will be publishing an options paper which will set out various possible measures to address the cost of education. I am doing this in order to facilitate public discussion on the various choices available to amend student supports. I will have regard to these options, including any options on increasing maintenance grants, when making proposals in the context of budget discussions.

Mairéad Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein)
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940. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the first- and full-year cost of reducing the student contribution charge (academic year 2023/24 rate) by €500, €750 and €1,000, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24149/23]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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As the Deputy will be aware, the cost of living response in Budget 2023 included, for the 2022/23 academic year, a once off reduction of €1,000 in the student contribution payable by free fees eligible undergraduate students.

Separately I was pleased to secure Government agreement to the introduction of a permanent new rate of student contribution support through SUSI from September 2023. For students whose families have incomes between €62,000 and €100,000, there will be a new grant of €500 towards the undergraduate student contribution payable by free fees eligible undergraduate students. I am also increasing the income limit for students to avail of the 50% student contribution grant. These measures mean that 42,500 to 50,000 extra students may be eligible for additional help towards paying the undergraduate student contribution once these measures come into effect.

The student contribution replaced the student registration fees levied by higher education institutions and, while the student contribution stands at €3,000 for academic year 2023/24, it is important to recognise that some free fees students will be eligible to have the student contribution paid in full (€3,000) or part (€1,500 or €500) through the aforementioned student grant scheme.

In advance of Budget 2024 this autumn, and as I did last year, I will be publishing an options paper which will set out various measures to address the cost of education. This will include estimated costs of options to reduce the student contribution. This is being worked on by officials in my Department and I will be pleased to provide the detailed estimates to the Deputy once available.

Mairéad Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein)
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941. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the first- and full-year cost of increasing the SUSI maintenance grant by 15%, 25% and 35%, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24150/23]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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In advance of Budget 2024 this autumn, and as I did last year, I will be publishing an options paper which will set out various possible measures to address the cost of education. I am doing this in order to facilitate public discussion on the various choices available to amend student supports. I will have regard to these options, including any options on increasing maintenance grants, when making proposals in the context of budget discussions.

Mairéad Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein)
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942. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the first- and full-year of extending SUSI to cover part-time students; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24151/23]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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In advance of Budget 2024 this autumn, and as I did last year, I will be publishing an options paper which will set out various possible measures to address the cost of education. I am doing this in order to facilitate public discussion on the various choices available to amend student supports. I will have regard to these options, including any options on increasing maintenance grants, when making proposals in the context of budget discussions.

Mairéad Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein)
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943. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the first- and full-year cost of extending the free fees initiative to graduate entry medicine; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24153/23]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Graduate Entry Medicine (GEM) is one of the pathways to study undergraduate medicine. Graduate entry courses require applicants to hold a level 8 qualification prior to entry and completion of a graduate entry medicine degree confers a further level 8 qualification.

As the Deputy will be aware, the Free Fees Initiative (FFI) provides tuition fee funding for eligible first time undergraduate students and therefore students pursuing second level 8 degree courses, including graduate entry programmes, are not eligible for the FFI. My Department currently has no plans to amend the scheme criteriato provide for the undertaking of second undergraduate courses.

In terms of GEM tuition fees, the total level of fees charged to graduate entry medicine students is a matter for the higher education institutions, consistent with the principle of their institutional autonomy. Development of a scheme to provide for GEM tuition fees would require a specific engagement with providers to agree terms and conditions, including funding arrangements and student numbers. In this regard it is not possible to estimate potential costs associated with introducing a specific scheme to provide for free tuition fees for all GEM students.

However, the Deputy may wish to be aware that the State already provides support for broadening access to GEM programmes through the part-subsidy of places for EU students, with the fees payable by the student determined by the higher education institution, taking the availability of this subsidy into account.

My Department has been working to address the cost of provision of GEM by increasing the subsidy paid to higher education institutions. It has been agreed that the State contribution towards GEM places will gradually be increased over a multi-annual period from a rate of €11,950 per student in the 2021/22 academic year to a new rate of €14,500. The fees payable by the student will continued to be determined by the institution attended.