Coalition sharply divided over third-level fees

The Coalition remains sharply divided on the issue of college fees after Opposition parties united in anger at recent suggestions from Fianna Fáil Minister for Further and Higher Education James Lawless that the student contribution could increase by as much as €1,000 next year.

Fine Gael was privately seething at the controversy, with party sources saying their TDs had received a barrage of representations from concerned parents and students, while radio shows and social media channels were also full of opposition to the measure.

One party source said there had been “panic” following Mr Lawless’s suggestions, pointing to “two days on Liveline” and also how the issue dominated Leaders’ Questions in the Dáil.

Fine Gael backbencher Willie Aird said very few students have parents “with deep pockets who can come up with this €1,000”.

“I’m pleading with ye today not to go ahead with this,” he said in the Dáil.

Fianna Fáil sources insisted it was Mr Lawless’s responsibility to set his own budgetary priorities in the Department of Further and Higher Education, and blamed Fine Gael for overreacting to his comments.

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The Government had decided not to include any cost-of-living package in the next budget, sources said, and Ministers would have to decide how to manage that in their own departments. They pointed out the commitment to reduce the student contribution fee in the programme for Government had to be done “in a financially sustainable manner”.

One senior Fianna Fáil source also insisted that more than half of all students already receive a full or partial subsidy of their student contribution fee, adding that the income threshold for fee supports this year is at an “historic high at €115,000”.

“It is important to target those most in need,” the source said. “Families that need more will get more.”

On a visit to Japan, Taoiseach Micheál Martin sought to avoid being dragged into the row, saying the issue of student fees would be part of negotiations between individual Ministers and the Minister for Public Expenditure.

“There’s a broad range of priorities there. So it’ll all go forward to negotiations,” Mr Martin said.

At home, Tánaiste Simon Harris also sought to avoid escalating the row in public, suggesting that some assistance to students would be included, on a permanent basis, in the budget.

 Mr Harris said parents of college students should pay fees in instalments and “see where the budget brings us”.

The controversy arose after Mr Lawless said on Sunday that because the Government had decided there would be no cost-of-living package in this year’s budget, the €1,000 reduction to fees of €3,000, which was a part of recent budgets, would no longer apply – suggesting an effective €1,000 increase for many students.

The fees issue – always incendiary in Irish politics – dominated exchanges in the Dáil.

Sinn Féin finance spokesman Pearse Doherty said “sending a kid to college is already costing families an arm and a leg” and “hitting them with an extra €1,000 will make going to college impossible for many, and no wonder young people are leaving this country in their droves”.

Acting Social Democrats leader Cian O’Callaghan said the Government “promised to reduce student fees, you are now breaking those promises that you have made”.

The row between the Government parties comes amid a backdrop of funding shortages for the third-level sector.

A funding gap of €307 million was identified by the government in 2022. Privately, many in higher education circles say badly-needed funds have been diverted into measures aimed at cutting college fees instead. In last October’s budget, however, the Government pledged to increase core funding, rising from €50 million in 2025 to €150 million extra by 2029.