The brevity of the Deputy's question gives me a moment to outline what Government is already doing to help with student accommodation-----
Sentiment score: 0.40
-----and to make a difference to what we know is a huge cost for many families. The Government is clear in recognising education, particularly higher and further education, allows students to fulfil their potential and plays a vital role in the economic development of our country in creating jobs and culture that is the heart of the progress Ireland is making. Let me outline the supports we are already providing and what we are already doing to respond to the need we know is there.
Sentiment score: 0.52
At present, with the support the Government has made available through the Minister, Deputy Lawless, as well as the work of this Government and the previous one, one in three students did not pay a student contribution. At present, half of students, through the SUSI scheme available, are supported in costs for becoming students, which we know are difficult. The Government has adjusted the standard rate income threshold by 15% to ensure more families and students are in a position to get the help they need.
Sentiment score: 0.41
Today, households with an income of up to €64,000 do not pay a student contribution. For those families who have more family members or a higher number of children, that ceiling is higher again. For postgraduate education, maintenance grants have been fully restored and a SUSI support is now available for the first time for those in hybrid or part-time education. That is what the Government has done and is already in place as we recognise the great challenge many families and students face with the cost of education, which we know is high. Those are the supports in place. How have we been able to do this? We have been able to do this for two reasons. First, it is due to the hard work of the Irish people and the contribution they make to our economy that, in turn, creates the resources we are in a position to spend. Second, budget by budget, the Government has put in place measures we believe we can sustain and are affordable which can accompany all the other things we need to do in higher and further education for students. The capital investment the Minister, Deputy Lawless, announced several days ago regarding additional student facilities will bring more facilities for a group of universities. Only a week ago, the funding in place to help improve the quality of education students receive resulted in many Irish universities moving up the world league ratings regarding their academic performance. Budget by budget, we make changes we believe are affordable which recognise the challenges there. That is why we will do what we normally do in the approaching budget. We will put in place measures, including those to deal with the cost of becoming a student and the challenge many families face, we know are affordable, can be funded and can be built upon in the years ahead. I, along with the Minister, Deputy Lawless, and the Minister for public expenditure and reform, Deputy Chambers, are very clear on what that objective is. We are very clear that the temporary measures in place when inflation was so high need to be looked at as well as at how we can put in place other measures that can make a difference to something we know is an acute difficulty for so many. So many are already receiving support which we know is needed.
Sentiment score: 0.24
The Deputy's question may have been brief-----
Sentiment score: 0.00
-----but the answer to it is longer in outlining the supports and difference we already make and want to build upon.
Sentiment score: 0.42
It is exactly because this issue is life-defining for so many that Government already has supports in place.
Sentiment score: 0.36
Of course, Sinn Féin will never acknowledge this in any contribution it makes. The difference between those of us who sit over here and Deputy Carthy is that we are interested in solutions rather than sound bites.
Sentiment score: 0.26
We are interested in action that will make a difference-----
Sentiment score: 0.40
-----rather than the Deputy's attempt at action on the issue of the day.
Sentiment score: 0.00
The answer to this question-----
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-----is the same answer that has been given at every other point in recent years. As this is such an important issue, it must be decided budget by budget-----
Sentiment score: 0.10
In the engagement every Minister has with the rest of Government and the Minister for public expenditure, the progress and supports in place recognise this is not only something that will be life-defining in a positive way but will also bring with it costs.
Sentiment score: 0.71
What Government wants to do is help in a permanent way and we will outline our answer to that serious question, as we will to many others, when the budget is completed.
Sentiment score: 0.34
First, I want to deal with the different language and points that the Deputy has made before I come to the really important issue of Elaine, her children and her children's future. For the Deputy to use language such as “stacking the deck against students” does no justice to the seriousness of this cause and demeans the need for serious debate regarding important decisions that this country has to make. When the Deputy suggests that the Minister for higher and further education is looking to make decisions that disadvantage students, that he is looking to make decisions that worsen the prospect of students, not only do I know that the Deputy really does not believe that, but I know that, by making that charge, she devalues the serious issue she is raising in the debate. What the Minister, Deputy Lawless, is seeking to do, and what he will do with support from the Government, is look at how we make progress on the programme for Government, how we can deal with issues of affordability and how we can make progress on the affordability issues in higher and further education while dealing with all of the other important issues that Elaine and the rest of the country want to see us make progress on. On the broad issue that the Deputy is raising on affordability, let me again state what we do. It is important to acknowledge what is there before we look at how it can be improved. It is important that even if these supports are not available to Elaine, they are available to other people. They are available to other citizens because we recognise the importance of the affordability of higher and further education and we are committed to looking at how that can be improved. The reality is that, as the Deputy puts that question to me today, 143,000 students and their families benefit from free fees. They benefit from that because they deserve to benefit from it. We know that for those 143,000 families, there are students who might not otherwise be able to go to college and benefit from the ability to have their prospects reshaped by going to higher and further education and studying further. The reality is that 60,000 students at the moment benefit from lower forms of student contribution, again, because they deserve to. The reality is that, today, 80,000 of our student population are benefiting from either no fees at all, because of the various schemes that are in place, or partial fees. All of that is in place because of our desire and the commitment we have to ensure that for Elaine, and for all the other families across the country for whom affordability is an issue, there are supports in place to help. What we will be doing, as we move to the necessity of having more normal budgets in place year by year, is looking at how we can make progress, which we will, on the affordability and quality of, and access to, higher and further education. That is what the Government will do, and we will work with the Minister, Deputy Lawless, and the rest of the Government to make progress on that.
Sentiment score: 0.43
It is because of my respect for those families that it is important to give a clear and honest answer. It is important to recognise that those families also have other needs and issues that they want our country to make progress on. In order for us to make progress on those collectively, we have to make decisions as part of the budget process so we can ensure that the changes we make are affordable and sustainable and can be built upon in the years ahead. The families the Deputy is raising are the same families who engage with me, the same families who are contacting Deputies on the Government benches-----
Sentiment score: 0.62
-----not only with questions on this but on many other priorities they want to see the Government make progress on. It is what we have done each year. We will need to do that now in the context of having normal budgets in a world that is becoming more uncertain and complex. We will need to look at how we can make improvements, budget by budget. That is why, as has always been the case, we will be in a position to give a clear answer to that when our budgetary work is done, and to respond to all of the needs that are there within our society in addition to this critical need of the affordability of education.
Sentiment score: 0.12
In recognition of the horror that is being inflicted on the people of Gaza, the loss of life, the new low that we are seeing being perpetrated when aid is being used in a way that appears to be assembling people for further deaths and injury, let me outline what the Government has done and what we continue to do to respond in a diplomatic and practical way to this. I refer to the work the Irish Government has done in responding to the clear sentiment of the people of Ireland in our intervention in the International Court of Justice in the case taken by South Africa; what has happened in recognising Palestine as a sovereign and independent state; our support for a proposal from the Netherlands to review the EU's trade and political relationship with Israel; the fact that we were the first country to call for UNRWA to remain in Gaza and that for the past two years alone we have allocated €58 million to support its work; and the fact that Ireland has been at the heart, as demonstrated by the Taoiseach and Tánaiste in the past number of weeks, of making a case for a different diplomatic approach from the European Union to respond to the loss of life and horror that the people of Gaza are confronting. That was recognised earlier in the week. The Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Qatar visited Ireland to engage with us. Qatar is a country playing a key role in trying to stabilise and bring peace to the Middle East. He visited to engage with the Government regarding our diplomatic efforts and the work we are doing to make a difference. I again refute the charge that the Deputy made against me personally and note that the call did not happen. I cannot help but be struck by the irony that the Deputy would rather believe the Ministry of Justice of Israel than me on the matter given everything else he says about that state. As regards the role of the Central Bank, let me again emphasise what it does not do. The Central Bank does not sell bonds on behalf of the State of Israel and nor are these bonds listed in our Stock Exchange. The legislation the Opposition has proposed, which the Deputy correctly said I argued and voted against, is, we believe, unworkable and would not have been in line with the law of the European Union. Instead, what we need to do, recognising the fact that while we are a member state of the European Union, there are many other member states of the European Union that hold differing views, is work to build up a diplomatic consensus to make a difference to that issue. That is not done by Ireland acting on our own. It is done through the patient work of diplomacy, which the Taoiseach and Tánaiste are at the heart of doing, to change the stance of the European Union on this issue, while taking action ourselves, as we have done and which is recognised by the leaders of the people of Palestine, to make a difference to the horror that we see unfolding.
Sentiment score: 0.02
At what point in my contribution did I look for thanks or recognition? At what point in the statements that I or any other member of the Government has made in relation to what is unfolding in the Middle East have we looked for recognition from the Deputy or, indeed, anybody else?
Sentiment score: 0.22
What we are doing is using the diplomatic resources that are available to us and our political leadership to make a difference, in practical and political terms, to the people of Gaza and to the horror that is unfolding to them and which has gone on for too long, in calling for a ceasefire, in making the case for a review of the trading relationship with Israel within the European Union, in the work the Taoiseach did in the European Council last week and in the work the Tánaiste has done in all of the Foreign Affairs Councils he has attended. That is what we are doing - by action. The Deputy made reference to the need for higher standards. There are standards that matter here. There are standards that matter in terms of only giving commitments to things that we know we can legally do and that can have a practical effect. That is what the Government is doing. Our actions are recognised by those who lead the people of Palestine and their allies. Regardless of that, what we will do is continue with the patient political work that is needed to make a difference with regard to a ceasefire and to support the people of Gaza in their hour of greatest need.
Sentiment score: 0.10
The Deputy will certainly not be found a criminal for having a different view from me.
Sentiment score: 0.63
I assure him of that. As we deal with this important matter that is at the heart of how we conduct politics in our society and the liberal democracy we are all proud of, which we know we can never take for granted and have to protect and renew by act, deed and word, it is important to remember what has already happened and what the legal framework for all of this is. As the House will be aware, the Criminal Justice (Hate Offences) Act 2024 came into effect on 31 December last year. That Bill prescribed prison sentences for very specific crimes where word or incitement is proven to be motivated by hatred or where hatred is demonstrated. What that did was put the right legislation and right legal framework in place to ensure that any assault aggravated in any way by hatred is one that will attract a higher prison sentence. That is what we have already done. Therefore, in dealing with the issues the Deputy raised and the charges he made regarding how we want to maintain that balance, it is a balance that deserves further debate, maybe in a more careful way. I believe the use of language and the way we describe issues in the House have an effect on the tone of politics. In turn, the tone of politics affects the conduct of politics, as well as how we can make the case for politics as a force for good and helping with the issues all of us are elected to raise. We will do that in a way that gets that balance right. I am not familiar with the detail of the legislation in Denmark or Sweden the Deputy referred to. They have political traditions that are every bit as proud as ours and take the case of parliamentary democracy and freedom of expression every bit as seriously as we do. If, however, there is cause to consider the matter further in Ireland, we will do three things. First, we will ensure that whatever we do continues to be consistent with the constitutional framework, which we cherish, in place in our country. Second, any such moves or further decisions are ones that always have to be proportionate and recognise the deep value of free speech and the right to freedom of expression. Third, freedom of expression is not cost free or consequence free. Words can be used in such a way that causes more than hurt and offence; they can influence how others act. That is recognised in the legislation the Government already has in place. The Deputy and others can be assured that in any further consideration of this issue, the Government and the Minister, Deputy Jim O'Callaghan, will always be aware of the delicate and vital balance we need to maintain.
Sentiment score: 0.12
The European Union is an institution that we are part of and that we shape, benefit from and influence. Implicit in the Deputy's question is the idea that the European Union is handing down direction or making decisions that we are, in some way, not able to influence or respond to. I am not familiar with the exact detail of the engagement the Commission has with the Department of justice. The Minister for justice will treat any such engagement from the Commission in a very serious way. The Deputy referenced the European Court of Human Rights, which is another institution that has done so much to protect and advance human rights and political and civil liberties. It is another institution that Ireland engages with and has the greatest of respect for. What I can do is restate the principles I outlined, which are that freedom of expression is precious and liberty in a liberal democracy is something we must protect, but words and acts also have consequences. We have looked to recognise that in the legislation in place, which the Dáil passed. In respect of any further initiatives that could originate within the European Union or elsewhere, we will be conscious of the need for Ireland to maintain that balance.
Sentiment score: 0.54
At least we talk to them.
Sentiment score: 0.00