Cork TDs seek clarity on student fees as reduction set to be dropped in next budget

The Higher Education Minister has been asked to clarify whether student fees will increase in the upcoming Budget.

Minister James Lawless said that a cost-of-living package will not form part of Budget 2026, meaning the temporary drop in the student contribution fee would “reset” to before the inflationary crisis.

Opposition politicians have criticised the mooted increase and asked the Government to give clarity to parents ahead of the upcoming academic year.

“If I don’t have a cost-of-living package, I can’t do the type of measures I did last year,” Mr Lawless told RTÉ’s This Week.

“The once-off supports – and they were very clearly described as ‘once off’ at the time – are not being provided for as it stands because there’s no cost-of-living package being made available.

“That may change coming into the Budget, I suppose it is a matter for the finance ministers more so than myself.” 

He said the fees would “reset” to what they were three years ago.

The student contribution fee was at €3,000 before the inflation crisis, and was reduced by €1,000 as part of Government measures to help people grapple with inflation.

The temporary €1,000 euro was first announced in 2022 and extensions were confirmed in 2023 and 2024.

Students whose households have a joint income below €100,000 could also apply for a grant through SUSI (Student Universal Support Ireland) to secure a further €500 fee reduction.

Mr Lawless said he intends to “wind down” the student contribution fee over the lifetime of the Government, but said “it is complicated”.

Cork North Central Labour Party TD Eoghan Kenny said that a pledge in the Programme for Government to gradually abolish student fees was barely six months old but now the Government appeared to be going in the opposite direction.

Mr Kenny pointed to the document in which it was stated that the Government would “continue to reduce the Student Contribution Fee” during its lifetime “to ease the financial burden on students and families at the start of each academic year in a financially sustainable manner”.

“This is going to have a seriously negative impact on those from disadvantaged areas or from disadvantaged backgrounds,” he said. “Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael never represented working class people in this country and we’re calling on Minister James Lawless to reverse this decision immediately.” 

The proposed hike was described as a “regressive and cynical move in the midst of a national crisis” by Independent Ireland chairman and Cork North Central TD Ken O’Flynn who suggested it was a “callous reversal of progress and betrayal of the next generation”.

“The minister needs to go back to class and learn some cost-of-living arithmetic because this makes no sense whatsoever,” he said, describing it as a “tax on tutorials”.