In the face of an ongoing cost-of-living crisis and a student accommodation crisis that has seen more students and families forced to pay upwards of €14,000 for a single year's accommodation, and despite having contested the general election on a platform of reducing college fees, the first action the Government took was to announce an increase of college fees of €1,000 per year. Now, the Government is flying the kite that it may only put up the fees by €500, no doubt expecting plaudits on budget day from those whom the Government is only screwing over by half as much as it had originally planned. Sinn Féin has called for fees to be scrapped. Will the Minister meet this commitment? Will the Fine Gael-Fianna Fáil Government do this or is helping students something it only talks about during elections?

The last thing we are looking for in preparing the budget is plaudits, particularly from Sinn Féin. I do not hold out any hope of us ever getting them from Sinn Féin. If we were to, I would be convinced we were doing the wrong thing.

Regarding what we are looking to do, the Government's track record on trying to help students is pretty clear by this point. For example, the work done by the previous Minister, Deputy Harris, and-----

The Government put up their fees by €1,000.

-----the current Minister, Deputy Lawless, is clearly building on that.

Efforts have been made to look at eligibility for SUSI grants to ensure they can play a role in the cost of living for students going to college. The Government is well aware of the sensitivity of the decision we will make about registration fees for students. No decisions have yet been made, but all of the Government, and not least the Minister, Deputy Lawless, is well aware of the importance of the decision, and we will make it. However, I will make a broad point that we have to ensure that, in the round, we have some ability to be able to pay for everything we do into the future. We got a sharp warning today from the ESRI about that. That is an important factor in how we put together this budget.

So, the Government is putting up fees.

They are more than £4,500 in the North.

I call Deputy McGrath.

Is Sinn Féin cutting them up there?

Minister of State, please.

The Government is putting up fees. Just to clarify, we are in the South and the Government is putting up fees.

Deputy, we have moved on to Deputy McGrath. Please have respect for him.

Thank you.