Tanaiste denies rift in coalition but hints at further college fee cuts
He also hinted that there will be a reduction in student fees from January.
Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have been fighting via press release in recent days following Higher Education Minister James Lawless' comments over the weekend, stating that fees would revert to €3,000 in September.
On his way into Cabinet, Mr Harris said there is "certainly not" a rift in Cabinet.
The Tánaiste said: "Yes, we are doing budgeting in a different way this year. We have to move beyond a budgetary measure between now and Christmas, and then other budget measures that kick in in January.
"But that's not the same thing as saying you can't support students in the here and now.
"I'm very clear that I signed up for and Fine Gael signed up for, a programme for government that commits to reducing college fees and ultimately abolish them.
"I think my own track record on this is pretty clear."
Mr Harris said he has been the Minister for Higher Education and that "budget announcements are made on budget day".
However, he insisted that the Government has previously found ways of helping students and their parents.
Minister Lawless said that as the Government will not be doing a cost-of-living announcement, he will not have the money to reduce student fees by €1,000 as this was a previous one-off measure.
However, the Tánaiste criticised suggestions that there will be no cost-of-living supports in Budget 2026 as there will not be a dedicated cost-of-living package.
He continued: "Yes, it's true, there won't be a big bag or series of announcements to take effect before Christmas.
"But it's also true that's not the way college fees fall due to be paid. Many people - most people pay in instalments.
"I'm very clear in the programme for government commitment. It talks about reducing and phasing out. That's what I want to see progress on, but I want to do that in a different way, in terms of engaging with our colleagues here in government. And I know all parties in government are very much committed to helping people.
"I think in the last few days, there's been kind of a bizarre narrative taking hold that if there's not a cost-of-living package that the government can't do anything on cost of living. That's simply not true.
"We have to move back to regular budgets. But of course, that budget can include measures to help people with cost of living."
Speaking later at a press conference, the Tánaiste said that a lot of people pay college fees in instalments and decisions made in October's budget could impact later instalments that have to be paid.
He continued: "If I was a parent of a child going to college today, I'd be saying, 'Do what happened last year. Do what happened the year before. Do what happened the year before that.'
"Pay in instalments and let's see where the budget brings us to."
Mr Harris said that while the budget will be "expansionary", there will be no cost-of-living package and decisions will have to be made following a very "sobering meeting" with the two finance ministers over the weekend.
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