I do not need to remind the Tánaiste about the very significant hardship and sacrifice that huge numbers of people have undergone as a result of the Covid pandemic. With a motion that People Before Profit is putting before the House tonight, we are proposing that for many of those who have made that sacrifice and suffered that stress, anxiety and hardship, we need to offer them a better future as we move out of Covid, and in particular in the area of education and access to higher and further education and apprenticeships. That is critical for the 80,000 people who have recently applied to the Central Applications Office, CAO, such as the leaving certificate students and so on. It is critical to the tens of thousands of people in third level who have seen their education experience greatly diminished over the past year, to thousands and thousands of people who may have to reskill and retrain because their livelihoods have been decimated as a result of the pandemic, and for the ability of our society to thrive and prosper socially and economically after Covid-19.

It seems, however, that we are not offering that better future to all of those people as we move out of the Covid pandemic. Rather, we are putting multiple obstacles and hurdles in their way as they try to access higher and further education or apprenticeships and complete their education to the highest possible level. Some 80,000 people will apply to the CAO, 25,000 of whom will be disappointed and potentially demoralised because we do not provide enough places in higher and further education or enough apprenticeships.

Our third level students and postgraduate students are suffering the highest fees levied anywhere in the European Union now that the UK has left. Many of our postgraduate students are living in absolute poverty on miserable stipends while suffering extortionate fees. Many of those who want to return to education to reskill or retrain are blocked from doing so by these high fees and the cost of accessing further education later in life.

The Tánaiste's Government has tabled an amendment to our motion. I appeal to him to withdraw it and to say that this is the time for courage, vision and payback for those looking for a future on the other side of Covid. We ask the Government to allow open access to third level and higher education and apprenticeships, to scrap the fees that make life so difficult for our students and to give decent supports to people in postgraduate education who are trying to do the research we need, and which we will need even more after the Covid crisis.

The Government is committed to education and to improving education in Ireland at all levels over the coming years. Education is the great leveller. It raises people up, gives them opportunities and allows them to learn more, earn more and build a better life for themselves and their children. That is why I am proud to have been a member of governments that introduced two years of free preschool education for all children. Investment at that age provides the best return and I am really glad that we prioritised that. I am also proud to have been a member of governments that ensured that more people can now access further and higher education than was ever the case before, these people coming from more diverse backgrounds than was ever the case before. I am glad to have had the privilege to be part of the governments that achieved that. As the Deputy will know, we are now investing in increasing the number of apprenticeships and types of apprenticeships. We now offer employers further incentives to take apprentices on. That is what we are actually doing.

We can, however, only do things that are realistic, practical and affordable. While I understand the motives behind the Deputy's party's motion tonight, and I can certainly see how they would be very appealing, I am not sure it is very realistic to abolish the leaving certificate and fees and to give everyone access to any course they wish. That is not practical. Not having a leaving certificate or some other form of assessment at the end of school would create great difficulties. I do not know how we would sustainably fund third level and higher education of the quality we would like. When countries such as Italy have attempted to introduce open access, they have ended up with very high drop-out rates. That is not desirable either.

Once upon a time, it was considered unthinkable that there would be open access to secondary education. We now look back and see it as monstrous that we would ration or limit the number of places available in secondary education. It is just as irrational and, frankly, lacking in vision to believe that we should still ration or limit access to higher and further education, education which benefits both those who desire access to it and our society as a whole. It is not the case that we have done what we should do with regard to investment in higher education. Some 50% of lecturing staff in this country are on part-time or temporary contracts, including 35% of lecturers. Postgraduate students are living in poverty. The drop-out rate in this country is terrible. One-sixth of all first-year students in higher education drop out. A National University of Ireland, Galway, survey of students in that university found that a third of students suffer from depression because we are not supporting them in accessing higher and further education and allowing them to sustain themselves.

I thank the Deputy. Vision is one thing. I believe everyone in this House shares a vision about education. I have gone through some of the things we have done to widen access to education and to improve education over recent years. There is, however, a difference between vision and practical action. Practical action requires more than a motion of one or two pages. If the leaving certificate were to be abolished, the system of assessment to be put in its place would have to be set out so that people could judge whether it would be better. If fees were to be abolished, how much that would cost would have to be calculated and how that would be funded at a time when we are already borrowing €19 billion a year would have to be shown. That is not sustainable. One would need to show how that deficit could be reduced while also finding additional money to do other things. If there was to be open access to third level education and if people were to be allowed study whatever course they want, it would need to be shown where the laboratories, anatomy rooms, dentist chairs and practical placements for apprentices would be found. All of this seems to be absent from the motion the Deputy is to put forward tonight.