I extend our sympathies to all the family and colleagues of Brother Kevin Crowley. He is someone who gave his life to serve others.

The Minister did not tell people during the general election campaign that a vote for Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael would be a vote to increase college fees. The Minister has been asked twice about this issue. I will ask him a third time. What fees will students have to pay in September? Will it be €2,000 or €3,000? It is a simple, straightforward question that the Minister has been asked twice. I have asked him a third time and I ask him to answer the question and to give a straight answer.

Hear, hear.

There is now complete disarray and open revolt in the Government over student fees. Last night, the Minister of State, Deputy Michael Healy-Rae, announced he was not happy about this mess. He said he signed up to a programme for Government that clearly promised to reduce fees. He described the threat to increase them by €1,000 as a scud missile nobody was expecting. Can the Minister stop the pretence that what is going on is part of the normal budgetary process? Nobody is buying that spin, not even the Ministers of State in government. The Government promised to continue reducing student fees, but it is now threatening to break that promise and increase them by a whopping 50%. This is what is happening here. I ask the Minister to answer the question on this issue and to clarify this is not what is happening.

The Minister does not have to lecture us and the public on budgetary planning. There was enough of that yesterday. What we are talking about here is trust in politics and promises broken within months of them being made. The Minister has repeatedly cited economic threats as a reason to ditch commitments to students and their families, but the programme for Government was written only a few months ago at the end of January. We are not talking about the dim and distant past. Is the Minister really telling us that commitments made a mere five months ago are now to be on the chopping block?

It is hard to avoid the conclusion that the Government just does not get it. It does not get the immense pressure on students and families from soaring costs. It does not get the level of rising panic at the thought of having to find an extra €1,000, or even more for families with multiple students in college. The Minister spoke at length about the Government's budget process, but what about family budgets? Does he understand household budgets and that they relied on the Government's commitment to reduce student fees? Families made plans on that basis, but the Government is now ripping up that pledge and those household plans. This is at a time when every penny has to be counted to make ends meet. This is causing great levels of stress and anxiety. Where are families and students meant to find that extra €1,000? I am really struggling to understand what the Government is doing and why this fiasco is continuing to run and has not been sorted out. Is it because the Taoiseach is away and nobody else is capable of making decisions on this issue?

I thank the Deputy.

We have heard enough bluster on this issue. The Government made a commitment in writing, in black and white, to reduce student fees. Will the Government uphold that commitment?

The time is up. I call the Minister to respond.

Will the Minister answer the question concerning what fees will be in September?

The Deputy cannot just dismiss budgetary planning as if it is not a proper part of how the Government operates and how politics should operate as part of-----

Is breaking promises how the budgetary process operates?

The Deputy just dismissing this and saying we should have ad hoc decisions on measures taken every week is not the appropriate way to run the budgetary process. What I said very clearly yesterday and again today was that we acknowledged the pressure many families and students faced. That is absolutely understood by everyone in the Government.

What we have said we will do around the budgetary process in the coming period is examine the cost-of-education paper, on which the Minister is working. This will inform the ongoing negotiation as part of budget 2026. In that budget, we will take decisions on how we can support continued affordability of public services. A key part of that is further and higher education. We are saying that we will do that within the confines of what we set out on budget day. This is the way annualised budgeting has worked for many years and the Deputy should not dismiss that.

What we have said very clearly is that we will move away from one-off temporary measures. What that meant last year was the measures taken relating to third level fees were temporary. We are approaching it this year in the context of seeing how we can provide continued and permanent changes for next year. The Minister, Deputy Lawless, is looking at that in the context of SUSI grants, reckonable income and the student contribution fee. That is what we are saying to people. It is around budget 2026 that we will set out what measures will be taken for next year. That is how we are engaging in this. It is unfair to just dismiss that by referencing politics and whatever else the Deputy said. That is unfair on the budgetary process. It is important, across every measure in Government, that we set out the overall allocation that will inform tax and expenditure policy for next year. We will engage in good faith with all our ministerial colleagues around their priorities. Obviously, affordability in education is one of them, which is understood fully by everybody in Government. It is through the budgetary decisions we take that we will set out what the fee threshold will be next year. That was the same in previous years when we had a cost-of-living package and a permanent package. What we are saying this year is that we want the measures we take to be taken on a permanent and sustained basis. It is on that basis that we are engaging in budgetary negotiations.

What will fees be in September? Will they be €2,000 or €3,000? This is the fourth time the Minister has been asked that question so could he give a direct answer to that question? What will students and their families be hit with in September? Can the Minister answer that question? In terms of dismissing things, it seems as if this Government is dismissing what it promised students and their families it would do in the programme for Government, namely, to reduce student fees. It seems the Minister is dismissing the concerns of families in terms of their household budgeting. Anyone reading the programme for Government in black and white and seeing the commitment to reduce fees would reasonably have thought that fees would be going down and not up. The Minister is dismissing that and the concerns of households and families. They need certainty and clarity. The Minister has been asked four times today to provide certainty and clarity on this and he has failed to do so. I am giving him a final opportunity to clarify whether fees will be €2,000 or €3,000 this September.

The programme for Government is centrally important and informs all Ministers in how they negotiate in any budget. What is referenced in the programme for Government relating to students and third level will inform the Minister's budgetary negotiation. What happened in previous years when temporary one-off measures were taken was that they were taken in the aftermath of the start of an academic year. Whatever decisions are made in the context of the budget around reducing the cost of education will be deducted through an academic year if a decision is made on that. This is what has happened in previous years when it came to temporary one-off or cost-of-living packages. What we are saying is that the budget will inform what measures are taken relating to student contribution fees, SUSI grants and reckonable income. Affordability for students is a key priority for the Minister as part of the budget discussions that will take place.