Rose Conway-Walsh criticises Budget 2022 over higher education
Rose Conway-Walsh challenged Budget 2022, arguing it fails to address the chronic underfunding of higher education and urging publication and funding of the Council's report. She welcomed some measures on apprenticeships and increases to SUSI but said most student supports and third-level funding remain inadequate and are delayed.
Higher education funding
She said this is the second budget that has utterly failed to tackle chronic underfunding of higher education, noting there is no extra investment in teaching or research in Budget 2022 despite record student numbers. She warned the third-level sector remains in austerity mode and called on the minister to publish the Council's report and allocate the necessary funding to secure the sector's future.
Student supports and SUSI
She welcomed the announced increases to SUSI, saying the rise was long overdue after 10 years, but raised concern that the changes do not take effect until next September and will not help students suffering now. She pressed the minister to publish SUSI reform proposals, highlighting examples such as adult applicants being excluded based on parents' pensions.
Fees and student hardship
She criticised the high level of student fees, saying Ireland has the highest fees in the EU and that chronic underfunding forces students and families to fill funding gaps. She described queues at food banks and warned that delayed measures - including adjacent grant moves she welcomed - leave students in immediate financial difficulty.
Clarification on Student Assistance Fund figures
She challenged the minister's presentation of figures for the Student Assistance Fund, noting the announced €17.2 million compares with €16 million last year and therefore represents roughly a €1.2-1.5 million increase rather than a €10 million rise. She urged clarity on the numbers and on the timing of supports that were announced.
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Thank you very much, Ministers. Minister, there are aspects to this budget that I do welcome, and Minister Collins has just outlined some of those in regard to apprenticeships and to other things in further education. The litmus test for the apprenticeships will be if we clear the backlog, and we will be monitoring that very closely to ensure we did. But, Minister, I would say that this is the second budget, and it's the second time that we've utterly failed to address the chronic underfunding of higher education. This is one, if not the key issue most of us thought that the department was established for in the first place. In the words of the Irish Universities Association, there's no extra investment in teaching or research activities in Budget 2022. And you say about it being the highest investment ever, but what you don't say is we also have the highest number of students that we ever had. So we can't, and we have to stop this, you know, comparing and giving people the impression that everything is okay, and that we're really substantially addressing things. The budget is a standstill budget for the third level sector. Higher education has been kept in the austerity mode, and there's no extra investment for the things I outlined. But I ask you again, Minister, we need to publish the Council's report. We absolutely have to, and we have to have the funding allocated with that to ensure the future of the third level sector. It is on your desk, you need to publish it. I welcome the increases on Susie. They're long overdue. As you said, 10 years. It's absolutely shameful that we've had to wait 10 years. Am I still okay for time, Luska-Hairlock? There has been no increase for 10 years. I'm really alarmed today, Minister, when I rang Susie to see, because I had lots of calls from students, but none of these are going to come into effect until next September. Is that right? So any of the students who are there in the real time now, suffering what they're suffering financially, aren't going to benefit from anything announced for Susie in the budget yesterday. Is that right? I would really hope that there would be something there now, because students are struggling right here and right now. And you saw the queue for the food banks, yourself and students. We live in a republic. We live in 2021. Having students queuing for food banks that runs out after an hour is absolutely atrocious. I want to know when the reform of Susie is going to be published, because I think you know that there are things within that that absolutely need to be addressed. I mean, to have a 30 or 40 year old with children of their own being judged and being excluded from Susie because of what their parents' pension might be is absolutely atrocious. And that's just one of the things. But there was nothing done either for fees. We have the highest fees in the EU. And nobody will explain to me why we have. And, you know, the reason we have, I suppose, is, or one of the reasons, is because of the chronic underfunding and because we constantly treat students and struggling families as cash cows to fill the gaps that are there because of that underfunding. And that absolutely has to stop, Minister. We see the other, I do welcome the adjacent grant moves as well. I think that will make a big difference. But again, if that's not going to happen until next year, I'm really concerned about what happens in the coming year. Minister, when you announced the total on Monday, you announced the 17.2 million for the Student Assistance Fund. That was, it was 16 million last year. So it doesn't represent a 10 million increase. It represents a 1.5 million. Again, I think you need to bring clarity to that. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
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