I move amendment No. 1: To delete all words after "Dáil Éireann" and substitute the following: "recognises that: — the Government is committed to easing the burden for students and their families; — the Government will progress its Programme for Government commitments to improve supports for students by increasing maintenance grants, reducing the student contribution fee throughout its term, and developing a multi-annual plan to deliver new student accommodation; and — stable, predictable policy making should be grounded in the annual budget process cycle, which is currently underway, this is in keeping with decisions on student contribution fees over the past three years; acknowledges: — the transformative impact the expansion of third-level and higher education has had on generations of Irish people, our society and our economic success; — that Ireland leads the way internationally in education, outperforming the European Union (EU)-27 average in third-level educational attainment across all age groups, and in all but one age group, Ireland exceeds the EU average by more than 20 percentage points; — the step change in research funding since 1997, through the Programme for Research in Third-Level Institutions and Research Ireland building the foundations of our economic success with major research institutes across our higher education network; and — the unlocking of a €1.5 billion funding package through new National Training Fund legislation in the coming months that will include increased core funding for higher education and capital funding to help build on that economic and social progress; welcomes: — that the Government will advance measures that will permanently reduce student contribution fees in an equitable manner, moving away from reliance on temporary subventions; — that the Government has already approved the major changes to the Student Universal Support Ireland (SUSI) grant, with expanded eligibility from September 2025, with the special rate maintenance threshold rising to €27,400 in line with social welfare increases, all other maintenance and contribution thresholds will increase by 15 per cent, and thresholds for postgraduate and part-time fee support will also be raised; — the unprecedented rise in the SUSI income threshold to €115,000, the highest level ever, broadening access to supports including the student contribution grant; — this means that 80 per cent of Irish households are now eligible for full or partial supports towards the cost of higher education; — that only 20 per cent of households may be liable to pay the full student contribution fee; and — ahead of Budget 2026, an options paper will be published, which will identify costs and potential impacts of various policy options aimed at reducing the cost of tertiary education, this paper will help inform decision-making ahead of Budget 2026; commends: — the Short-Term Activation Programme for driving the development of student accommodation, with 116 beds nearing completion at Maynooth University, and proposals for a further 493 beds at University College Dublin and 405 beds at Dublin City University currently at tender evaluation stage, this progress builds on the delivery of additional units across several other universities; — the promotional campaigns that have significantly boosted the supply of student accommodation through the Rent-a-Room Relief scheme, which enables homeowners to earn up to €14,000 per annum by renting vacant bedrooms thanks to these efforts, approximately 4,000 bedrooms are available to rent throughout the country; — the introduction of the Rent Tax Credit to ease accommodation costs that was launched at €500 in 2023 and doubled to €1,000 in 2025, this credit is available to students in purpose-built student accommodation, private rentals, and digs, and can also be claimed by parents on behalf of their student children for eligible rents paid since 2022; — the Programme for Government commitment to further progressively increase the Rent Tax Credit which will directly benefit students and their parents; and — the allocation of funding from the Dormant Accounts Fund to support students from Traveller and Roma communities, as well as those with experience of the care system, with the cost of accommodation when living independently while attending third-level education; notes that: — almost all full-time undergraduate students benefit from full coverage of their third level tuition fees through the State's Free Fees Initiative, and that almost half of all students receive full or partial State support for their student contribution fee. — while free-fees eligible students are responsible for the base rate of the student contribution fee, many receive full or partial support through SUSI grants based on their eligibility; — recent years have seen significant enhancements to the SUSI grant scheme, including the introduction of the €500 Student Contribution Grant, which permanently reduces the student contribution for eligible students, alongside a range of additional supports available through SUSI; — the Minister for Further and Higher Education Research Innovation and Science will bring a long-term student accommodation strategy to Government later this year with the explicit objective of increasing supply and reducing the reliance on the private rental market; — engagement with the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage is ongoing to address the impact on students of the proposed rental reforms; and — engagement with the Department of Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitisation is ongoing regarding National Development Plan funding for student accommodation; and further notes that options for revising student supports, including adjustments to the student contribution fee rate and SUSI student contribution supports, will be considered as part of Budget 2026. Of course I will address my remarks to the people in the Gallery, as I always do, and indeed to the people of the nation, whom I serve. I welcome the students in the Gallery tonight. I have met many of them already and look forward to meeting those I have not yet met in the course of their term ahead and my term ahead. I also welcome the debate. I agree with some, but not by any means all, of what was said. I reject some of the cheap populism I have heard just now but I do agree with some of the points that have been made about the priority of education and its position as a fundamental building block for progress as a nation, a society and an economy. I welcome the motion this evening as a timely opportunity to discuss all of that and the central role of further and higher education in our society and economy. Education is the very bedrock of why I got into politics, why I joined Fianna Fáil and why I made education a key policy platform when I rewrote my party's constitution a few short years ago. I firmly believe in access and excellence in education as a driver of positive change for our country. For me, Fianna Fáil is the party of education. We have led the way on every major expansion of education in Ireland. From the driving transformative ambition of Patrick Hillery to the unprecedented step change of free secondary school education under Donogh O'Malley and the innovation of the Taoiseach, Deputy Micheál Martin, in establishing a dedicated Department of further and higher education in the first place, we have relentlessly and consistently pushed out the frontier. I am proud to be in the privileged position of serving in office to push out on that work and to build on that heritage with our colleagues in Government, Fine Gael and the Independents. The story of our country over the past several decades is a remarkable tale of economic transformation and social mobility. It is a history that is inextricably bound up with the expansion of our education system. We went from a primitive agrarian economy to an advanced industrial knowledge economy in the space of a few decades. We did that through sustained investment in education and innovation, and we will continue to do that on my watch and throughout this Government's term. The virtuous cycle of education and economic growth creates the resources we need to invest in our social systems and infrastructure, improving quality of life and opportunities for all citizens. That investment and enhancement create the resources that support the public good and everything else that we do. This narrative of a failed state we sometimes hear from the Opposition sees education as just another football to be kicked around.
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It fails to see its real role in our society and our economy. At its heart, my Department is a services Ministry, but it is also much more. It is an economic Ministry and an enabler of everything we want to do. The challenges we are facing, including global trade uncertainty, digital disruption, AI, the green transition and climate change, all demand we lead with the talent, science and skills my Department supports and nurtures. It is here. It is latent in our people. That talent is our greatest national asset and my job is to nurture it and enable it to flourish. The Government is built around that core philosophy and that forward-looking thinking. It is grounded in a belief that education is transformative in two key ways. The first is as a ladder of opportunity for individuals and their families and the second is as the engine of innovation that drives our economy forward. Our commitments on higher education and student supports in the programme for Government and elsewhere reflect the best of those values. That is why I am committed to ensuring our research and education systems are properly resourced so that they can continue to build the knowledge and capabilities that underpin that success and that prosperity. It is also why I fully intend to deliver on the programme for Government commitment to reduce the student contribution fee over the lifetime of this Government. I will address some of the issues posed by the motion and the events of recent days. Perhaps I am unusual, but I believe in a straight answer to a straight question and that honesty is the best policy.
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We can laugh all we like but let us think about how this came about.
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We have a duty to be upfront and honest with citizens and to deal in good faith.
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We do not gain anything from avoiding those questions. Whether in a radio interview or anywhere else, I have always been straight with people. This is not a policy decision. Deputy O'Reilly can wave her fingers all she likes.
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Ceann Comhairle, I am trying to speak. I did not interrupt you, Deputy O'Reilly. This is not a policy decision or a move to reallocate moneys. It is not a decision of any kind. It is not a decision at all.
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This is a straight and sincere statement of budgetary challenges as we approach this year's budget. That is what it is, pure and simple.
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The once-off measures, which were welcome-----
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The once-off measures were welcome and were needed at the time but they were temporary in nature. I want to move the system onto permanent measures that are sustainable, costed, fair, equitable and baked into the system for evermore. That will be of far greater benefit to families, students and everybody in the system in the long run. Along with my colleagues across both parties and the Independents, I am fully committed to our programme for Government commitments. We will make progress in the coming college year but we have to be straight with people. To govern is to choose. Every decision comes with trade-offs. We have to be honest with people. Unlike the Opposition, I will not pretend every single need can be met in a single budget. The danger of calling for everything for everyone is that you risk standing for nothing at all. People know that nothing is free and that choices have to be made. They know the budget is the right place to make those choices. Of course, it is important that we listen to students and parents who are struggling with the cost of education and who need real support in the coming college year. I have been hearing those voices ever since my appointment. I have been hearing them in the last number of weeks and months and ever since the day I took office. I have met with the USI and with students' unions and I look forward to meeting with more of them in the weeks and months ahead. Over the summer months, I will continue the consultation I started with an event in Croke Park in April that brought together all the key stakeholders, including the students' unions. I have listened to what was said as regards the measures that would be most impactful and most helpful to the system. This means putting in place policies that are sustainable and that will have an enduring impact rather than making promises on the fly. We need to help students and parents with costs but we need to do it in a costed and sustainable way. That is why our major financial decisions are made through the annual budget process, where choices are weighed up and made in the best interests of our State. That is exactly how any approach to student fees has been taken over the past several years. Decisions are made in the annual budget and benefit students for the coming academic year. Sinn Féin knows that because it brought forward this same motion at the exact same point two years ago. At this point in the calendar in 2023, it brought forward this same motion, saying there was uncertainty. At the time, the Minister, Deputy Harris, replied and said what I am going to say now, which is that this will be dealt with in the budget cycle. That is the way it is always done. The point scoring and politics in this motion are disappointing because these kinds of on-the-fly, universal, uncosted, unfunded measures that promise something for everybody and one for everyone in the audience all add up eventually and it is at someone else's expense. We need to be clear about where we are going with this and we need to look to the budget to advance that.
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I want to get away from the negativity and move towards the goal of a higher education system that achieves both excellence and access. Budget 2026 will move us a step forward towards that and build on the progress to date. Rather than scaremongering and whipping up anxiety, we should be clear with people about the supports that already exist. Households with incomes up to €115,000 will benefit from fee grants and supports this September. That is before we do anything else. That is already in the budget today. The SUSI application deadline is this Thursday, 10 July. There are multiple measures already in the system. Households with incomes of up to €115,000 are already eligible for supports. That may not be widely known but it is an historic high. It is the highest it has ever been. I have taken on board all of the points that have been made in this debate and more. I have talked about Sinn Féin hypocrisy. I have asked questions about its alternative budget but I have not got any answers yet, straight or otherwise. It got its numbers wrong in its budget submission on this measure last year.
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Sinn Féin costed it at €65 million when it is actually about €135 million.
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I heard Deputy Seán Crowe, who I have great time and respect for, talk about how it is a core policy of Sinn Féin to abolish fees. Someone needs to tell the Northern Ireland Executive that because fees are €5,600 across the Border and there was recently talk about bumping them up. That kind of partitionism would make a unionist blush. People see through that kind of rhetoric. They see where that leads us. Let us not speak out of both sides of our mouth. Let us speak truth and tell people that we will do our very best for them in the budget process. We will fulfil our programme for Government commitments, reduce the cost of education, reduce the student contribution fee, target resources at the people who need them and keep our education system at the standard it has always been at. Let me again be crystal clear: no decisions have been made yet. There is a financial framework that we all engage in as we go into the budget. That is exactly what we are doing now. The voices of everybody in this Chamber matter. I will reiterate my commitments and reaffirm my belief in honesty in public debate. Our education system is the foundation of a thriving economy and a flourishing society. It deserves better than political point scoring and hollow promises. Some parties want to make noise-----
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I have reiterated-----
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I have reiterated my commitment to the programme for Government. Some parties want to make noise; I want to make progress.
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It is not a policy decision. That is what I am saying.
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Not all the parties.
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Some more than others.
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Absolutely.
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