Danny Healy-Rae urges ministers to allow €1,000 student payment
Danny Healy-Rae welcomed students to the gallery and appealed to the two ministers to allow the €1,000 payment, arguing many families do not qualify for Susie and face high accommodation and travel costs. He described long commutes from Belinch Island and County Kerry and urged ministers to act in students' favour.
Danny Healy-Rae opened by welcoming students to the gallery and wishing them well for the coming year. He framed his remarks as an appeal on behalf of students who expected a €1,000 payment and are now facing increased costs.
He said many families do not qualify for Susie and, as a result, parents and students must work hard to fund college. He listed the main cost pressures - accommodation, food and travel - and stressed these make attendance at college financially difficult for some households.
He gave local examples of travel burdens, asking listeners to visualise journeys from Belinch Island to Killarney and on to Limerick, describing an "almost two hours" drive and further travel to reach college. He also said that many students in Killarney had to take a bus to Limerick daily last year because they could not find accommodation, and that it is similarly hard to get accommodation in Cork.
He respectfully asked the two ministers present to consider the students' situation and allow the €1,000 payment, noting the sum had been removed last year. He referenced a ministerial comment on cost of living and recalled a ministerial promise to reduce student fees, saying students and families cannot understand the current position and urging the ministers to "do the right thing."
Appeal and welcome
Danny Healy-Rae opened by welcoming students to the gallery and wishing them well for the coming year. He framed his remarks as an appeal on behalf of students who expected a €1,000 payment and are now facing increased costs.
Financial pressures on students
He said many families do not qualify for Susie and, as a result, parents and students must work hard to fund college. He listed the main cost pressures - accommodation, food and travel - and stressed these make attendance at college financially difficult for some households.
Long commutes and accommodation shortages
He gave local examples of travel burdens, asking listeners to visualise journeys from Belinch Island to Killarney and on to Limerick, describing an "almost two hours" drive and further travel to reach college. He also said that many students in Killarney had to take a bus to Limerick daily last year because they could not find accommodation, and that it is similarly hard to get accommodation in Cork.
Request to ministers and policy context
He respectfully asked the two ministers present to consider the students' situation and allow the €1,000 payment, noting the sum had been removed last year. He referenced a ministerial comment on cost of living and recalled a ministerial promise to reduce student fees, saying students and families cannot understand the current position and urging the ministers to "do the right thing."
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Transcript
I too am glad to get the opportunity to speak here on behalf of the students and to welcome the students here to our gallery here and to wish you well for the coming year. There's a number of things at play here. Many families don't qualify for Susie and as a result parents and the student have to work very hard to ensure that they have funding to go to college and the cost of accommodation, the cost of food, the cost of travel and can you visualize if you have to leave a place like Belinch Island and travel all the way to Killarney, it's a good almost two hours drive and then travel two more miles, two more hours to Limerick for to go to college. That costs money and it costs time and it's just wearing out on the students that have to go through that and that's a fact they have to. And many students in Killarney even last year had to travel on a bus to Limerick every day because they couldn't get accommodation in Limerick. That's a fact and students have been on to me about that and it's a very serious matter and like that it's very hard to get accommodation in Cork and as I said this this is a very serious matter and I'm respectfully asking the two ministers here in front of us tonight to consider and in favour of the students and allow them the thousand euros at this time because they thought that was a measure that was there and that they'd only be paying two thousand and I know the minister made commented on the cost of living and that was part of that, that the thousand euros was given off last year. So I'm appealing to you. He did say to us that he'd bring down student fees and we can't understand that I'll greet it if it's all people. So on behalf of the students here and all around the country, especially County Kerry, they have to travel on journeys to go to college. I'm appealing to you to do the right thing in this okay.