Calls for Higher Education Minister to clarify student fee comments

By Gráinne Ní Aodha, PA

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 reduction 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”.

He said there are too many versions of the SUSI grant and said there is a “desire to reform it” so that it is more effective.

He said a cost of education paper would be assembled and published this summer.

The programme for government states that the coalition will “continue to reduce the student contribution fee over the lifetime of the government… in a financially sustainable manner”.

Maeve O’Connell, a Fine Gael TD for Dublin-Rathdown who is a former lecturer, said it was “reasonable” for parents to assume that third-level fees would not be going up due to the commitment in the programme for government.

She told RTÉ’s Liveline that it was “very early stages” in the Budget process and said there was no guarantee that this was the Government’s final position.

“I will certainly be raising this week,” she said of parents’ concerns about whether fees would increase this September.

Labour Senator Laura Harmon said Ms O’Connell’s remarks “directly criticised” Mr Lawless and asked for clarity to be provided to families.

“Yesterday, Minister Lawless made it clear that increasing student fees is still very much under active consideration. Yet today on Liveline Maeve O’Connell is attempting to say this hasn’t been confirmed,” Ms Harmon said.

“This is not just a communications blunder – it’s a political failure. It is incredibly unfair to leave students in limbo.”

The Social Democrats’ Jen Cummins said Mr Lawless “dropped a bombshell” on students and their families.

“Fianna Fail and Fine Gael need to get their act together, end this phoney war and live up to their commitments to students. This speculation, about whether fees are going up, must now be brought to an end,” she said.

People Before Profit councillor Conor Reddy said Mr Lawless’s suggestion of raising fees was “shocking”, and called for third-level fees to be abolished and for student accommodation to be made affordable.