Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 23 May 2024
6. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science if he is considering further funding to abolish higher education tuition fees and move to a fully free public education system; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19521/24]
Amharc ar fhreagraI have never thought that fees for higher education made any sense. Why on earth would one ration access to higher education, college or university? But when we are looking at absolutely chronic skills and labour shortages in just about every sector of our society at the moment, is it not time to remove all obstacles to people getting trained, skilled and educated in key areas where we need people to work in our society?
I thank Deputy Boyd Barrett for raising matters on the cost of supporting students and higher education tuition fees.
As the Deputy will be aware and will appreciate, at this time it is not possible to provide an indication of the measures that may be introduced in budget 2025. However, in advance of budget 2025, I will be publishing an options paper which will set out the various possible measures to reduce the cost of attending further and higher education for families and students. I will have regard to these options, including any options in respect of providing additional higher education tuition fee supports, when making proposals in the context of the budget.
The progressive implementation of measures to address cost as a barrier to education is an important priority for this Government. We have committed significant additional resources towards supporting students in recent years. As part of the cost-of-living measures introduced in budgets 2023 and 2024, the student contribution payable by students eligible for the free fees initiative were cut by €1,000 in the last two academic years.
A number of other measures aimed at addressing the cost of education have been introduced to support students and their families. These include increases to the SUSI maintenance grants, a new student contribution grant of €500, increased stipend payments and additional funding for the student assistance fund.
I can assure Deputy Boyd Barrett that providing accessible, affordable high-quality tertiary education to all learners, regardless of their background, will continue to be a core priority for me and for the Government.
These are under-pressure, slow and incremental moves by the Government. We are in a very serious situation, however, and we need a bit of bold and radical thinking. Take, for example, the area of special needs which I and others have been campaigning on, particularly over recent times because of such a dire situation there. There is a lack of teachers, special education teachers, psychologists and almost all of the allied health professionals. As a result, vulnerable children do not have special education resources, teaching, or classes, and they are on waiting lists for assessments and services. Why? Because we do not have the trained professionals in them. Then you talk to the people who are trying to study those things and they say the fees are crippling. Many people drop out. It is too expensive to get qualified in these areas. It makes no sense to put financial barriers in the way of getting people educated to the highest level in areas like this when our society is crying out for them.
I am sure Deputy Boyd Barrett would accept that we are on the one page on this issue. I never thought I would be on the same page as People Before Profit on anything but I imagine that the Deputy would subscribe to the idea that where resources are limited and finite, they should be targeted toward the people who need them most. Thus, it is on a means-based, targeted system, which is what we have at the moment. In recent years, the Taoiseach and former Minister, Deputy Harris, has been on a pathway to do that with the cost-of-living measures and the SUSI measures that have been put in place.
The Deputy mentioned students with special needs. It is also important to recognise that PATH 4, which never existed before, now gives an opportunity to people who, for many years, were locked out of the third level sector. They now have an opportunity to get what the rest of us take for granted. This should be welcomed in the context of what the Deputy is saying. All of this comes in the context of the money available to me and the Department and the choices that have to be made. In the coming weeks and months I will be listening to people like the Deputy in this regard.
Yes, but this needs a whole-of-government approach. It cannot just be the Minister. If we do not have early intervention for children with special needs, the costs down the line for the rest of society will be huge. There has to be holistic thinking. If we get people trained in areas like the allied health professions and as nurses, doctors, teachers and so on, we will save society a lot of money down the line and we will be helping our young people to get qualified, thereby helping our society and economy. It is an almost 19th-century anachronism to ration access to education. We used to ration access to secondary education. If you suggested that now, people would think you were insane. We have to realise that we are in a new world now and we need these skills and professions and, therefore, we have to remove the financial barriers for people. I could have talked about many other sectors in this regard.
I remember when the student contribution charge was brought in. Everybody knew it was fees by another name. Realistically, it is long past time for it to be removed. Instead, what we saw in the last budget, which surprised me, were more one-off measures. We are past the time for that; we need to do better than one-off measures. We need to hear a commitment from the Government that multi-annual funding will be set aside for the permanent removal of this charge in order to allow people to plan for the future. Just like our previous discussion on student accommodation, if people are being told measures are once-off, they are not sure what will happen next year or the year after. It is high time to remove this charge.
All options will be on the table when I discuss this matter with the Ministers, Deputies Donohoe and McGrath. Regarding Deputy Boyd Barrett's comment about the 19th century, if we had a 19th-century approach to third level education, I would never have had the chance to go to university because I did not go to a private school. That is the reality. This country has been transformed through investment in primary, secondary and tertiary education. This has allowed people from backgrounds similar to mine to go to university. We would never in a million years have been able to do so otherwise.
Regarding the fees, the cost to the Exchequer of the free fees initiative is €357.9 million. In 2022-23, 141,000 students benefitted from the initiative and €156 million was paid towards student contributions under the student grant scheme. These are not insignificant amounts of money. I agree that with a growing population we always need more. There is a budgetary constraint that we will be working towards between now and when the next budget is presented. I will take on board all ideas, regardless of where they come from.
