{"id":433726,"date":"2026-05-05T17:25:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-05T17:25:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/433726\/"},"modified":"2026-05-05T17:25:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-05T17:25:08","slug":"fg-and-ff-tds-clash-as-education-overspend-puts-planned-student-fee-cuts-under-threat-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/433726\/","title":{"rendered":"FG and FF TDs clash as education overspend puts planned student fee cuts under threat \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Coalition parties have traded blows over suggestions that further cuts to student fees could be endangered by overspending in the Department of Education<\/a>. <\/p>\n

The programme for government commits the Coalition to continue to reduce the student contribution fee over its lifetime, but the matter became a stumbling point last year \u2013 and now risks re-emerging.<\/p>\n

On Newstalk radio on Tuesday morning, Minister for Further and Higher Education James Lawless was asked about demands from the Department of Public Expenditure that other departments pay to partially backfill an overspending gap in the Department of Education, and reports that could impact plans to reduce student fees.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s too early to say but obviously in this situation at the moment where every other department has to contribute to a levy to support the Department of Education, that places additional challenges for all of our spending plans.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said he intended to secure the \u201cbest possible deal\u201d in the budget depending on the allowance available to him at budget time. <\/p>\n

The Irish Daily Mail reported on Tuesday that Government sources said the levy would hinder the scope for new measures such as grant increases or fee cuts. <\/p>\n

The comments drew a pointed response from Fine Gael, whose Minister Hildegarde Naughton runs the Department of Education. <\/p>\n

The party\u2019s higher education spokeswoman, Maeve O\u2019Connell, said the next budget \u201cneeds to provide additional supports for our hardworking families\u201d including those with students as part of their families. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m disappointed that the Minister is not interested in bringing to Cabinet any reduction in student fees.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fine Gael sources are suspicious that the fee reduction is not top of Lawless\u2019s list of priorities, while Fianna F\u00e1il figures were privately critical of O\u2019Connell\u2019s intervention.<\/p>\n

Asked if it levies tied Lawless\u2019s hands when it came to bringing about a further reduction, O\u2019Connell said: \u201cMinisters always have choices as to how they\u2019re going to invest the funds that they have.\u201d . <\/p>\n

Responding to O\u2019Connell\u2019s comments, Fianna F\u00e1il TD for Louth Erin McGreehan, chair of the Oireachtas higher education committee, said she was \u201cdisappointed\u201d by the Dublin Rathdown deputy\u2019s comments which she described as a \u201csolo run\u201d, adding that the programme for government was clear in its intent to cut the fees further. <\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s a member of the same Government I am part of,\u201d McGreehan said of O\u2019Connell who is deputy chair of the higher education committee. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m disappointed by it; what we do at committee across all parties is really work positively together,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re all working together for positive things in the higher ed sector and to then come out with this solo run … you raise these things at committee and proactively.\u201d<\/p>\n

There were efforts on Tuesday afternoon to defuse the burgeoning row, with Lawless releasing a statement saying he \u201cremains steadfast in his determination\u201d to deliver on programme for government commitments, which O\u2019Connell welcomed. <\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Lawless<\/a> also defended Government plans to introduce a loan scheme for medical students on the condition recipients go on to work in the Irish health service.<\/p>\n

The concept, first reported in The Irish Times in February<\/a>, is being developed against a backdrop of concern that Irish medical graduates are leaving to work overseas.<\/p>\n

Lawless said there were a number of issues around graduates going abroad to work. \u201cWe need to examine why is it that some of our healthcare graduates, not all by any means, but some, choose to practise in other countries post-qualification. Is there a way through the student supports team that I can incentivise some of them to stay around? I hope so.<\/p>\n

\u201cAre there things we can do in the broader health workforce and work experience to incentivise them also? I\u2019m sure that there are. Those are the practical things.\u201d<\/p>\n

He told the programme that lower-income students are not pursuing graduate entry medical courses, where fees can be between \u20ac15,000 and \u20ac20,000 per year.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey don\u2019t have the means to access the courses. They don\u2019t have the means to pay those kind of fees as graduate entrants. And there\u2019s a gap there. And year on year, you see this being propagated, so the graduate entry courses are becoming the reserve of the more affluent families.\u201d <\/p>\n

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