Student supports and costs
Deputy Smith raised financial pressures on students and families and sought support in budget 2025, including on an inequity he had repeatedly raised. The Taoiseach said he would engage with the Minister and acknowledged a cost-of-living package would form part of the budget.
In recent budgets, the Government quite rightly introduced a number of measures to help families deal with the increased costs of living. At this time of year there are huge financial pressures on many families who have a student or students attending further and higher education. The Government introduced once-off student contribution supports and a rental tax credit. I sincerely hope such measures will be part of budget 2025 as such support is required by many students and their families. The Taoiseach may recall me raising on a number of occasions in the House the inequity that exists in denying students from our State studying in Northern Ireland or abroad access to such supports. Families here, regardless of their children's study location, have similar cost-of-living pressures. Those students should not be disadvantaged because in many instances they were unable to access their course of choice in our jurisdiction, mainly because of a lack of places on some courses, including medicine, pharmacy and other healthcare disciplines.
I have been given lame-duck excuses as to why such students cannot avail of these necessary supports. Those students are eligible to apply for SUSI grants and if the will was there, they could easily be included in any other support schemes. We talk at length about encouraging student mobility, particularly with our neighbours in Northern Ireland, and then we allow administrative nonsense and inaction to deny students from our State getting equal treatment with their fellow students south of the Border.
Comment on this
I thank the Deputy. I definitely do not want give him a lame-duck excuse on this so he should let me engage directly with the Minister. I acknowledge this is an issue the Deputy has brought up time and time again. Let me in the first instance engage with the Minister on this matter to see if there is a way of advancing it once and for all. I will revert to the Deputy on that. Obviously, there will be a cost-of-living package in the budget. It used to be the tradition the budget was announced on budget day - it used to even be more than a tradition. I certainly hope the cost-of-living package contains supports for students and parents. Going to college puts a cost on many parents, including in those families who do not necessarily qualify for a student grant. Reducing the fees is definitely a good way of trying to make progress.