Decision to reverse €1,000 reduction in third-level fees will 'really hurt' students
The deputy president of Aontas na Mac Léinn in Éirinn (AMLÉ), the national union of students in Ireland, said the move will lead to an increase in students deferring their degrees or leaving the country to study elsewhere in Europe.
Higher Education Minister James Lawless said over the weekend that 'as it stands', the universal cut to college fees for all undergraduate students in Ireland
will not be replicated in this year's budget
.
This means that many third-level undergraduate students whose fees have been cut from €3,000 to €2,000 will see the fees revert to what they were previously.
Lawless said the previous fee cuts were linked to a cost-of-living package that was included within the budget, with no similar package being made available this year.
The programme for government commits to reducing the Student Contribution Fee over the lifetime of the coalition 'to ease the financial burden on students and families at the start of each academic year, in a financially sustainable manner'.
Lawless said he still intends to do this.
Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, AMLÉ deputy president Bryan O'Mahony said that their understanding was that the once-off measure 'would eventually become a permanent reduction'.
'They said that they were looking towards the total abolishment of it over the lifetime of the government. For us, we don't see it as a great start for the long-term reduction of it, if the first year of the government's plan is to raise it back up to its original fee,' he said.
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While he acknowledged that the union was never explicitly told that the reduction would be repeated this year, O'Mahony said he had been involved in talks since Simon Harris was Higher Education Minister and 'the understanding was that this was what the push was for, to reduce it'.
He said the union had held some meetings with Lawless. 'We weren't aware that this was going to be a full return to €3,000 fees. That was never made clear to us at all.'
O'Mahony said there are 'so many students', including those who don't receive financial support from their families or those already struggling to find accommodation or afford rising rents 'are being blocked out and are going to be really hurt by this'.
'What we'll see is students deferring. Students looking at options in Europe. Chances where they can actually attend their degree and actually study to their full extent.
'So many students are working full-time jobs just to be able to afford to go to college, but they're not able to actually be in the classroom because they have to pay for it.'
Sinn Féin's finance spokesperson Pearse Doherty has described the decision to reverse the reduction in fees as 'a scandalous slap in the face for families during an escalating cost-of-living crisis'.
'Households are being crippled by the cost of groceries, rent, electricity and gas bills, and now the government is turning to students and their families and demanding an extra €1,000 more for them to go to college or university.'
Doherty said the party is calling for a cost-of-living package to be included in Budget 2026, with a proposal that student fees are reduced by €1,500 in September as a first step to ending student fees.
Labour's Higher Education spokesperson, Senator Laura Harmon, said the decision was 'completely out of touch' and would be a further burden on students and their families.
'At a time when the cost of living remains sky-high and when rents in college areas are completely unaffordable this move would hit families where it hurts,' Harmon said, calling on the Minister to reconsider the move.
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