Government’s €1000 student fee hike ‘scandalous slap in the face for young people’

Sinn Féin spokesperson on Finance, Pearse Doherty TD, has described as a scandalous slap in the face the government’s decision to hike student fees by €1000 in the midst of an escalating cost-of-living crisis.

He added that the hike represented the latest example of a government that has abandoned young people, and remains completely out of touch when it comes to understanding the financial pressures ordinary workers and families are under right across the state.

Teachta Doherty said: “In the middle of a cost-of-living crisis, the government has announced that student fees will be €1000 more than last year.

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“This is yet another scandalous slap in the face for families during an escalating cost-of-living crisis, and underlines just how out of touch this government is when it comes to understanding the pressures workers and families are under.

“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 €1000 more for them to go to college or university.

“This hike comes on the back of the government’s decision to erode protections for student renters and this latest assault on the aspirations of our young people will price more and more of them out of furthering their education and realising their potential.

“The brutal reality of the choices this government is taking will be to force more and more young people onto the next plane out of here to Australia or Canada.

“It doesn't have to be this way, and our children deserve so much better than this. Sinn Féin has the backs of ordinary people, and we want a society that allows our young people to thrive, realise their dreams and to build a future for themselves here.

“We are demanding a cost-of-living package and as part of that, we will be proposing that student fees are reduced by €1500 in September as a first step to ending student fees.

“We will not stop until this government realises the pressures that young people and their families are under the length and breadth of this state.”