Vol. 1085 No. 4
150. Deputy Donna McGettigan asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science if he will consider additional financial supports for students on a temporary basis due to increasing travel costs that students are currently facing as we approach exam time; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34974/26]
Will the Minister consider additional financial supports for students on a temporary basis due to the increase in travel costs that students are currently facing, particularly at this time of exams?
The Deputy's question is timely. I am always conscious of the desire to reduce the cost of education for students. I met a number of students recently at the cost of college event where I had very good conversations. I am meeting AMLÉ tomorrow and I meet student unions across the country on an ongoing basis.
On many occasions, I have outlined my commitment to improving student supports in a way that is equitable, funded, fair and provides certainty for families. That is one of the reasons I prioritised student supports in the most recent budget, my first budget in this role. Real and permanent changes were introduced that support students from all backgrounds and help reduce the cost of education, particularly for those who may not have traditionally been able to access it. As a result, more people are allowed in and the pool of access is broadened. Access to higher education is a life-changing event.
The Deputy posed a specific question about travel costs and temporary supports. I agree with her, and so does the Government. That is why we recently agreed at Cabinet to provide €750 million of additional money to support people suffering as a result of the fuel crisis across a number of sectors. Most importantly, this is done in a way that supports everyone who uses motorised transport through reductions at the pumps. There is a 10 cent additional excise duty reduction, bringing the total reduction put in place this year to 32 cent per litre on diesel and 27 cent per litre on petrol, combined with a package of other measures.
For any student who, as the Deputy described, is incurring increased travel costs, be it through their car or travelling on a bus, train or other vehicle, which all have heavy fuel costs, the idea behind the excise duty cut is that every household, family and student in a car or bus will avail of some sort of subsidy and relief on a temporary basis for the cost of travel, as the Deputy suggested. In short, I agree with the Deputy. That is exactly why the Government is moving swiftly on this.
I welcome the fact the Minister said he is trying, although the 10 cent reduction has already come and gone and it is still costing students and their families more to travel. Some students have no choice but to live at home and travel because there is no accommodation for them. We are coming into the exam period and there is also uncertainty around the student fees with the current cost of living. I know the Minister can only do so much with the allocation he has, but students are telling me they need this. Students should not be the ones to carry this burden. They should be able to put fuel in their car, but they cannot do so. They cannot afford it and are getting into debt. They have to take on extra time in work just to pay for this. I would welcome even more supports than what the Minister has outlined because the current supports are not enough.
As the Deputy knows, the student supports I introduced in the most recent budget targeted, in particular, those students who have to travel extra distances. They are categorised as being "non-adjacent". All four bands of non-adjacent maintenance grants were increased by between €200 and €400 to reflect the additional costs for those commuting those distances.
The Deputy mentioned accommodation, and rightly so. I am aware it is a key concern for most students. As the Deputy knows, I published the student accommodation strategy recently. It is building up steam. There have been almost 3,000 new commencements since it was introduced only a month or six weeks ago. I visited Whitebox Student Campus in Limerick where a site of approximately 1,200 to 1,400 beds is getting ready to move forward. That site used my new student accommodation design template. The fruits are already beginning to bear, but I am conscious it will take time to build those sites out, secure planning and move through the process. We are up and running with that now.
Would the Minister look at the costings for a temporary free travel scheme for students affected by the current fuel crisis? We are not looking for this to be a permanent measure but, rather, a temporary one to get them over this period. Such a scheme could lift the burden on students commuting long distances to colleges. Any relief on the cost of living would make a significant difference to students. Not only are they trying to afford to stay in college, but their mental health is being affected by this too.
We are doing that. This week or next week, we will pass the Finance Bill through the Houses to give effect to those measures we have already decided, as a Government, to take. We are doing exactly as the Deputy suggests. We are providing further subsidies on the cost of travel to students in two ways, namely, through direct intervention at the petrol pumps for those students who travel by car and motorised transport and by additions to the maintenance grants, which are already in the system and being paid out to students across the country. Students are receiving those benefits from the new grant amounts that I increased for exactly that reason.
I am always having ongoing conversations with students. I will be publishing shortly the outcome from the cost of college event I hosted this year. That will be in the form of a paper and it will be available for reference to the Deputy, as her party's spokesperson for this area, and to all Members of the House. It will outline all the different options students suggested, with a costing against each one. For the first time this year, the paper will contain an impact analysis detailing what each measure would mean in terms of outcomes, policy goals, widening access and the material difference it would make to allow students to make the leap into education and navigate through it.
151. Deputy Eoghan Kenny asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science if he and his Department have considered not proceeding with the planned reduction in student contribution fees for the 2026-27 academic year, in light of the recent Government decision requiring Departments to absorb expenditure overruns within existing budgets; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34357/26]
I thank the Deputy for his ongoing interest in this matter and all matters pertaining to higher education. As he knows, the programme for Government addresses the cost of college in a balanced way. It does so deliberately by combining universal and targeted measures. The programme for Government commits to incrementally reducing student contribution fees as well as increasing SUSI grants; providing targeted support measures for specific cohorts; providing more pathways into higher and further education; and improving how students navigate within the system. The programme for Government also states – this is less often quoted by commentators – that all this must be done in a financially sustainable manner. That is the wording. It is on the website for all to see.
In the current budget, I was pleased to introduce the first permanent reduction to the student contribution charge in approximately 30 years. It is a €500 reduction. That flat-rate reduction has reduced the top rate from €3,000 to €2,500. That is in effect from the current academic year, and we backdated it to make it available to students already in the system. That is the first permanent cut. It has benefited 108,000 undergraduate students and 14,000 apprentices. It is only right that apprentices also benefit from a 17% pro rata reduction in the fees they pay.
The State provides grants that cover all or part of the student contribution for eligible learners on a SUSI grant. Up to 70% of households are now eligible for the full student contribution fee to be paid, half of it to be paid or, for those at the top level with a household income of up to €120,000, a €500 subvention. A family with a household income of, say, €118,000 that is availing of the flat fee of €2,500 is eligible for the €500 fee grant, meaning they effectively pay €2,000. For a family with an income of, say, €60,000, half of the fees are paid for. Below that, families get their fees paid in full. There are a number of interventions aimed at different sectors in a targeted fashion.
I appreciate that. The Minister will be acutely aware of the level of concern among families and students to the news that there is a possibility that the incremental decreases in student contribution fees will not go ahead. The Minister mentioned that this must be done in a financially sustainable way, which is something that is not spoken about perhaps in the media or by other spokespeople. The Department might be financially sustainable, but why should students or the Department cover the cost for other Departments that are not so financially sustainable? That is not good enough. It is not acceptable to students. I do not doubt the Minister's bona fides on this and I am sure he would love to be able to decrease the student fees or even get rid of them altogether. A financially sustainable way of decreasing fees should not mean students have to bear the brunt for the Department of education's overspending every year.
The Deputy makes the point well. I will not comment on collective Cabinet decisions, but I hear what the Deputy said. It is very fair. For my part, I attend to pursue a multitude of options to further support students. These include making progress on fees but also a number of other options in areas such as maintenance grants, funding for students with disabilities, mental health supports, the student assistance fund, accommodation support through the non-adjacent grants and so forth. As I mentioned to Deputy McGettigan a few moments ago, we will be publishing a paper that sets out the different options available to us, along with the costings of each one. This year, for the first time, I commissioned, through the new economics policy under my Department, an impact assessment that tells us what the benefit of each measure will be on particular cohorts and how it will be of assistance and progressive in reducing the cost of education. I assure the Deputy that I am committed to continuing the work of the programme for Government in full, including the fee reductions.
Is there a date on which that paper will be made available? Those costings will be very important to politicians in this Chamber but also extremely important to the very students who we profess to represent in this Chamber regarding to the amount they will have to pay for the coming academic year. I represent the students across this country and the important issue for them is that there was a commitment in the programme for Government to reduce the student contribution fees, albeit in a financially sustainable way, incrementally year on year during the Government's term. It is something I will absolutely call out as a spokesperson on education. An overspend within the Department of Education and Youth and an overspend across government as a whole should not have knock-on effect for the Department of further and higher education or for the very students we stand here and represent.
I assure the Deputy and the House that I will make the case in the budget negotiations to secure the maximum possible package for my Department for the benefit of students, apprentices, researchers and all the people within and for all the good reasons the Deputy articulates.
I expect the cost of college paper to be available in June or early summer, and certainly it will be with us before the summer break. It has been commissioned at the moment. It derives from the cost of college event, which we held with students and other stakeholders, and it will also draw upon information meetings with a number of groups, such as AMLÉ who I will meet in the morning, and many other groups I meet on an ongoing basis. When the paper is published, I will inform the relevant spokespeople.
I also welcome any collaborative input from spokespersons on education in the House as to the opportunity cost because it would never be possible, even if we had plenty of time, to do everything. Choices will have to be made. I would welcome a debate and formal discussion. The intention of that paper is to put the choices out there with the costings of this but not that, for example, and to take an in the round view on what is the optimal approach.
Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire.
152. Deputy Donna McGettigan asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science the framework or protection he will put in place to ensure that any service charge will be included in the rent charge for students in student accommodation, given that otherwise the service charge can soar up; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34975/26]
It is a priority of mine to make higher education more accessible, as I have been saying in reply to earlier questions. Part of this is the cost of accommodation, the cost of putting a roof over everyone's head, and making sure that the students are ideally as close to their college as possible. I firmly believe that the student experience and the college experience necessitates, and is enhanced by, being proximate to the college and having the opportunity to not only be in college for classes, but to attend extracurricular activities and to form new friendships and new networks. Notwithstanding that hybrid lectures and online study can be useful and can be of assistance in certain ways, there is no substitute for the real life in-person interaction. Student accommodation, therefore, is so important for many reasons. There are two ways we go about that. One is through viability and the other is through supply.
Specifically on the Deputy's question and focusing on the service charges and whether they are used as a way around rental restrictions in terms of the law, there are two points. The legislation governing that is the law on rent pressure zones, which is outside of my Department. This jurisdiction is within the preserve of the Minister for housing, Deputy Browne, and his Department. I would say strongly that student accommodation falls under the remit of the Residential Tenancies Board, RTB. The board offers a dispute resolution service and it has the authority to investigate breaches of rental law, any improper conduct, any unlawful rent increases and any misbehaviour by landlords, including student landlords. This all absolutely comes into the domain of the RTB. The board can impose sanctions of up to €15,000 in fines. Any student or any representative of students who comes across a situation where they believe the RPZs are not being honoured or that the legislation is not being adhered, should make a report to the RTB and have it investigated by that independent body, which is commissioned for that purpose, so the full force of the law can be brought to bear in those situations.
The Minister said that he does not like to see this happening in reply to me in committee. However, the RTB has said that if the rent is set out at the start with the services charged separately, the charge can stay separate. We have seen in institutions that the increase is around 7%, when we look at the rent rise and the rise of the service charges. I would like the Minister to sit down with the Minister for housing to try to work this out a framework and put protections in place. Otherwise, service charges that are separate to rent will soar high and then students will be ripped off again. This cannot go on. We have already had this in other institutions. I acknowledge the Minister cannot do anything about that because it is already in place but I would like him to sit down with the Minister for housing to discuss this.
I have indeed sat down with the Minister for housing. We had a number of good interactions over the past year, and particularly when he announced his intention to bring forward the reform of the rent pressure zones and to legislate for that. We immediately engaged on that and we spent a long time working out the details of how that would affect students. One of the outputs of that is the special protection regulation for students specifically stating that student-specific accommodation is safe from the regular rent reset that can happen in other private accommodation when a tenant vacates. Where there is a student apartment, regardless how many students come and go, the rent cannot be reset for a minimum of at least three years. This is a very specific protection measure to save students from the annual reset. We know the way students operate and how they come and go with each academic year. This is in law. It passed through these Houses and is now enshrined in the rental acts, and rightly so.
I hear that but I am still not hearing that the Minister will examine the service charge and the rent section going out together. It is a loophole and it will cause issues for students down the line if service charges can go up. They did in one institution recently where the cost increased by 7%. We need to sit down with students, with the Minister for housing and with the Minister, Deputy Lawless, to discuss this important issue. This loophole needs to be closed to protect students and others in rental accommodation.
I have ongoing engagement with the Minister for housing and we have had a very structured and productive engagement, which led to the student exemption and the protection window of three years being imposed in the new rental protection Acts. I hear the issue that the Deputy raises. I have written directly to one or two institutions where I was made aware of this practice. I advised them that I did not feel this was in the spirit of the law, while within the letter of the law. It certainly is not within the spirit of the law. I made my views very clear on that. The Deputy will understand that there is a limit to the powers I exercise here. They are independent entities. There is legislation in place to govern it but we have a dedicated stand-alone agency, which is the RTB, to investigate any breaches of the laws. Where there are situations that come to the Deputy's attention, or to any student's attention, I strongly encourage them to make a report to the RTB and they could be investigated accordingly.
154. Deputy Donna McGettigan asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science for an update on the progress in providing third level courses through the medium of Irish across the country; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34976/26]
Gabhaim buíochas leis an Teachta McGettigan. Aithníonn mo Roinn an ról tábhachtach atá ag earnáil an oideachais threasaigh maidir le cur chun cinn agus cothabháil na Gaeilge. Tá réimse cúrsaí ar fáil do mhic léinn trí mheán na Gaeilge ar fud na hearnála treasaí. Is iad na hinstitiúidí féin a dhéanann na cinntí sin i gcomhréir lena neamhspleáchas acadúil. Léiríonn anailís a rinne an tÚdarás um Ard-Oideachas le déanaí gur chláraigh 420 mac léinn i gcúrsaí a sholáthraíodh go hiomlán trí mheán na Gaeilge sa bhliain acadúil 2023-24 agus 265 mac léinn eile ag déanamh staidéar i gcúrsaí a sholáthraíodh go páirteach trí mheán na Gaeilge. Den chuid is mó, is i réimse an oideachais iad sin. We need to make further progress on what we have done. I recently visited an t-acadamh in Ollscoil na Gaillimhe Déardaoin seo caite. We spoke to a number of the students and educators there about their plans and their ambition to deliver education in the medium of Irish. It is important also that we recognise the difference between cúrsaí sa Ghaeilge and cúrsaí through Gaeilge. Are we teaching Irish or are we teaching other courses through the medium of Irish? Sometimes that distinction is not always picked up on but it is important. We have a very strong ambition, working with the Minister for Rural and Community Development and the Gaeltacht, Deputy Dara Calleary, to reach the goal of 20% of public servants working through the medium of Gaeilge and having it at their disposal. It is something that I am very much committed to and am very much working on. This is why I visited with an Teachta John Connolly and an Comhairleoir Keane at the acadamh in Galway last week. I am very committed to this.
We will be publishing a national plan for Irish-language public services. This will include research into existing and future demands for Irish-medium tertiary education and then look at how we will roll that out up to 2027.
The Minister will have to excuse me. Táim ag foghlaim Gaeilge anois. Níor thuig mé gach rud a dúirt an tAire. I welcome any progress made on this issue. My son went through bunscoil and Gaelcholáiste and when he went on to college, there were certain words and phrases he struggled to understand, particularly in science. The Government has set a target that 20% of new recruits to the public service will be able to converse with the public and provide services through Irish by 2020, but currently less than 1% of third level courses are being provided in Irish, despite over 50,000 students attending Gaelscoileanna. Would the Minister agree that this is a bit slow?
Níor cheart go mbeadh imní ar an Teachta faoina cuid Gaeilge, táimse ag foghlaim chomh maith. Maith thú as an bhfoghlaim. We will learn together. It is commendable when anyone attempts it. To meet the target, the goal is to have a workforce capable of speaking at least partly as Gaelige, but ideally 20% would have a strong ability and competency. A wide range of courses is available already. Some are fully in Irish, some are partly through Irish and there can be combinations. Course provision is determined by the institutions, because they are academically autonomous. It is not just within na hollscoileanna. I visited an education and training board, ETB, recently that was providing Irish-language education in night classes. We also support clubs and societies in a number of different activities on campuses, outside of the formal learning experience. I am very supportive of that, as is the Minister of State, Deputy Harkin.
In a recent submission to the committee on further and higher education, Conradh na Gaeilge called for at least 5% of third level courses to be available through the medium of Irish. Does the Department have any plans to have this? The Irish language is enjoying a cultural revolution, particularly through the music scene. An awful lot of young people now want to take up the language, to learn the language and to continue in their life with the language.
I know Conradh na Gaeilge well. I will be meeting its representatives in the near future to discuss their submissions and requests. I am very supportive and I hope we can do as much as we can for them. I mentioned some of the actions we are taking. There are a couple of specific actions we are taking to meet the target. We are working with the Department of Education and Youth to examine the transition of students from Irish-language post-primary education because we know there is a huge growth in the bunscoileanna and Gaelscoileanna. The question is how they move on to tertiary education, because we do not want their Irish to fall away when they move to third level education. We are working with the Department of Social Protection on the sectoral working group I mentioned already to see how that can contribute to the targets. We are undertaking research to understand the demand and availability of both the courses and of students wishing to take them up. We are also examining the inclusion of Irish-medium courses in future expressions of interest. We are running a number of expressions of interest with the HEA at the moment for new course provision in areas like disability, therapies, medicine, veterinary, etc. We will see if we can include Irish as one of those in the future and if there is an option to provide those courses, we will.
155. Deputy Danny Healy-Rae asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science his views regarding the holiday earnings disregard for students applying for Student Universal Support Ireland, SUSI, grants; his views on whether it is unfair that only income from work during holidays is considered, and students who have a small weekend job lose out on the SUSI grant as that puts them over the threshold for a grant; and if he will review this matter. [35185/26]
It is very unfair that only income from work during holidays is considered for students who wish to avail of the SUSI grant. If they have a small weekend job they lose out, as there is no disregard for that. What is the reason for this? If they have a bit of work for weekends, why not allow it to be disregarded, like the holiday pay? Youngsters appreciate work.
I worked all the way through second level and third level and afterwards. Then I ended up studying while I was working, so I did it both ways round. I totally appreciate the industriousness and the necessity in many cases for students to work through their education. How we have it structured is that under the SUSI grant scheme, income from employment that represents holiday earnings outside of term time is calculated on the basis of Easter holidays, summer holidays and Christmas holidays. This can be disregarded when calculating the means of the family for the SUSI grant application. In the current budget, we are increasing that from €8,424 to €8,830, which is an increase of about €400, or 5%. That is something I was minded to do. As I said in response to a question earlier, there are a number of choices in each budget. We cannot do everything so we try to look at how we can approach something with targeted measures. This was one of the ones that was important, even if it was only 5%. It was something I was conscious to do in order to keep student earnings in line with inflation and allowing that to be taken into account. Students should not be penalised for going out to work outside of term time.
We have what we call an options paper on the cost of college, which is an analysis of engagement with students. I had a meeting with a number of students' unions and other stakeholders recently in Portlaoise. We examined the different asks they had regarding grants, fees, thresholds, student accommodation and the earnings disregard for students' income at weekends or over term breaks. Next, I will take all those different requests and publish them as an options paper and have a costing and impact analysis against each one. We can make decisions then and I would welcome the input from those in the Houses who are interested in the brief, as to which options are preferable to others and why people believe that to be the case. I will engage in good faith with Deputies in the House as we approach the budget to consider those options.
I thank the Minister for his reply. What I am saying is that it will cost the State nothing to allow the work students do at weekends to be disregarded for the SUSI grant. The costs are exorbitant now for students going to college and it is only natural that they would want to help their parents out and help to get themselves to college and pay for all the things the Minister listed, including the fees, student accommodation and travel from places as far away as Cahersiveen and Dingle and all the places in Kerry that they have to travel from to colleges right around the country. What benefit is it to the State to stop youngsters from going to work for the weekend? It is hurting businesses that may have built up a relationship with these youngsters during the holidays. I see no point whatsoever in it. It has been known all our lives that we should encourage youngsters to work but this is doing the opposite.
They do not need to leave Kerry any more at all, because we have a fine university in Tralee with MTU. I visited it recently with the Minister, Deputy Foley, and Deputy Cahill and we saw it in action. Professor Maggie Cusack and the then chairperson, Jimmy Deenihan, welcomed us to the facility. The university is providing world-class services. If students do want to leave Kerry, however, there are course options available to them. I know it is expensive, and I talked earlier about the recent cuts we have implemented. There is a €750 million package to assist with the cost of travel, in terms of excise cuts and many other measures. There is also the student Leap card and the young adult Leap card to use on public transport and, of course, there are the €500 cut to student fees, which is permanent, and all of the increases to grants, particularly the non-adjacent grants for students who have to travel that bit farther. However, there is a cost to the State. It was calculated last year that exempting all students' earnings would cost about €26 million. To put that into perspective, that same amount could pay for a 10% increase in all maintenance grants or could increase all income thresholds by 10%. There are choices to be made regarding whether we increase grants or thresholds or disregard student earnings to a greater extent.
As much as anyone else, I welcome the MTU in Tralee for students in Kerry. However, I would say again that it does not make any sense at all if these youngsters could work and earn another bit of money to help themselves to go to college. It would help to take the burden off their parents. The Minister is talking about all the things the Government has given out and that is fine, but these people and their families are still under financial pressures that were never seen before. This is especially the case in families where there is more than one student in the house. I ask the Minister to look at this and to give these lovely young boys and girls a chance to work. They love to work. I always had someone like them in the bar at home and I appreciated them. We can learn things from young people that we might not otherwise learn.
I ask the Minister to look at this again in a favourable way.
As I said at the outset, I worked all through college at a variety of things through weekends, evenings in some cases, and all through my summers and, indeed, often Christmas and Easter holidays as well. I would make the point to the Deputy that there is nothing stopping students from doing that. Students can work, and they can choose. It equates roughly to Christmas holidays, Easter holidays and summer holidays. However, if students want to say they are going to work every weekend instead or work one part of the year and not another, it is entirely up to them.
A threshold of €8,830 has been imposed now. To work it through, if we were to take that away and say there is no threshold, theoretically, a student could earn not €8,000 but €80,000 or €100,000. It would actually be a backdoor to the household or family suddenly having their income threshold nearly doubled. I know the Deputy would agree that is not desirable either because we have to have a progressive, fair system that targets supports to those who need them the most. I know that is maybe an extreme example, but there is logic to this and how it is calculated. Originally, the idea was to discourage students from working during term time. That is why it was applied to holiday periods. That is more relaxed now and they can choose to work weekends if they wish. There has to be some level at which it is set, however.
