I take this opportunity to raise the issue of the cost of further and higher education. Is the Department planning to publish a roadmap to address the cost of education at higher and further level? As a fellow graduate of UCC, no doubt the Taoiseach will remember the days in the Kampus Kitchen or the main restaurant when he would have counted his change before buying a warming bowl of soup or cup of Barry's tea. Students today are similarly capable of making the most of every euro, but spending a couple of years in college is very expensive, even if supplemented with summer or part-time work. We have to ensure that such work is supplemental. Our students are poorly served by a Government if they have to sacrifice classes and study time working full-time to pay for college. This will not maximise their potential or support our knowledge economy. Those currently at second level are now looking to their third level education choices, discussing options with their families. Cost is a big part of that discussion because we know cost is a barrier to continuing with education. From a student and parent’s view, third level fees have increased this year versus what they paid in 2025. I hear the impact of this from students and parents in my Dublin Rathdown constituency. As I also have UCD in my constituency, I hear it from the students living in my constituency who are from all parts of Ireland. These students and parents tell me they know they have been supported over the last few years. They have saved €2,500 in the three years of their degrees, a saving they did not budget for, through the reductions in fees. This is compared to what they expected to pay when they accepted their college places in 2022 or 2023. They are also well informed. They understand that this budget was the first of five over the course of this Government and a college journey takes place over a number of years, but those in their early years are also asking how exactly we will honour the commitments that we made in the programme for Government - our commitment to reducing the student contribution fee and expanding the SUSI maintenance grant. Now is the time to give students and families clarity on how this will happen and for the Department to provide people with the right assurances and a plan of action. For every family that has a child in further or higher education, or who may be starting third level in two, three, four or even five years’ time, I ask the Taoiseach to ensure that the Minister for further and higher education develops and publishes a roadmap on how to reduce the cost of education as a matter of priority.

Sentiment score: 0.22

I thank the Taoiseach. I am delighted to hear that he was a fellow tea-drinker as well. As a Corkman, I have to assume that is good old Barry's Tea too. I welcome that. I also support our investment in research but I do not see that it is a trade-off. We need to invest in our students, but the cost of education can encourage students to work more hours and damage their education. There is another opportunity that I would like to ask about relating to the whole area of student accommodation. We have extended the 9% construction rate VAT to student accommodation but there is another opportunity we have in that regard. Recently, I visited TU Dublin, my former employer, to discuss the challenges it and other technological universities are facing. The team there identified two potential locations for building student accommodation. One is in Grangegorman, which is quite a small site overall, and a major site in Blanchardstown. However, they are lacking borrowing capacities and without this have no chance of being able to develop these sites. What is the timeline for the establishment of this borrowing framework, which is a commitment in the programme for Government, to enable the technological universities to get on with building accommodation for students and apprentices?

Sentiment score: 0.32