Mattie McGrath on student fees, nurses and university failures
Mattie McGrath spoke on 19 November 2020 about university provision in the South East, student accommodation refunds and the treatment and pay of student nurses during the pandemic. He criticised the minister's conduct over the Children's Hospital issue, urged legislation to force refunds of accommodation fees and demanded student nurses be paid for their frontline work.
Main points
McGrath argued the South East urgently needs better university provision, criticised perceived slights to smaller party TDs over a Children's Hospital matter and raised widespread complaints from students and families about accommodation fees. He said many families have paid between four and nine thousand euro for college accommodation they cannot recover.
Accommodation refunds proposal
He called for legislative action backed by the Dáil majority to compel colleges or providers to return a substantial portion of accommodation fees. McGrath suggested allowing providers to keep 30% to 40% at most and return about 60% to hard-pressed families, stressing this measure is needed during the pandemic when closures have disrupted study and living arrangements.
Student nurses and pay
McGrath described the failure to pay student nurses who worked on the frontline as an "abject disgraceful behaviour" and a betrayal of promises. He noted student nurses returned from college to work on the frontline, lost part-time jobs and should be compensated rather than merely applauded.
Third-level teaching and access
He raised practical problems in the third-level sector, including students being told they had only five or six hours of tuition spread over several days, forcing repeated travel, and some students having very limited contact hours. McGrath urged colleges to "get their act together" and said many issues in the third-level sector still need to be sorted out.
Closing remarks
While expressing support for staff who are managing difficult work, McGrath insisted the government and universities must address the financial and educational stresses on students and families. He concluded by wishing the minister well on the portfolio but stressed urgent fixes are required across the sector.
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Good morning, I too am delighted as Minister and wish you well on your portfolio. I'm astounded as well that Minister Harris couldn't wait. He's gone out to look into the black hole that is the Children's Hospital side, some legacy he has to that. I mean this is totally insulting to TDs of smaller party groups who have to wait in their queue and the Minister doesn't even think of a worthwhile listener. That's his resonator as it has been. Two issues I'm going to talk about Minister, I'm going to talk about three issues. One is about the universities that is for the South East which is badly, badly, badly needed with a poor relation according to that. And then the late Duna O'Malley, who was a party colleague of your dad and others and had great visionary inspiration for free education. My God look at it now, look at the stresses. Students now, university, and I have here the Minister saying to me when I have hundreds of students and their parents on to me about having paid anything between four and nine thousand euro for college accommodation, I can't get it back. So you have a majority, you have a majority of business you as the Count Coulomb, you know. Bring in legislation, you'll find nobody oppose it. Okay, let them take 30% of the fees, or 40% maybe at most, give back the 60% of these hard-press families. We're in a pandemic, you tell us, you brought in the legislation to close down everything. Why are these hard-working families being victimised and being perished and thrown to the wolves? I want to support the staff and Susie because they have a very good hard job to do and they do their best and they have a very good working relationship, but my office is very busy, gelled into my offices on a daily basis. And, as I said, the student nurses, the betrayal of that cohort of people who left their student, or left their student in the company, left their colleges and came back into their homes and worked and put themselves on the front line and to be taught to be paid and to have you standing up here then clapping them and standing in different places clapping them and you refuse to pay them. It's an abject disgraceful behaviour and really reverse of your promises, but promises are meant to you broken, you'll probably tell us, but they need to be paid. They're in there on the front line working harder than many people in that huge monstrosity of the HSE. They're on the front line and they were willing to be there and, you know what I mean, they're being caught in, they're losing their part-time work that they had in as well, they're not available to do that. So, they had been badly mistreated as well. So, Minister, I'm asking you to, You will be heading in that direction shortly enough, I have one myself this year, and the same way it is a very trying time. Some have only one lecture, other persons who wanted to travel, they were told they had only had five or six hours of tuition, and they were spread over five days, so they had to travel for five days. The universities and the colleges need to get their act together as well, and not to have students in college for maybe ten hours and have them over five days. It is unfair on the families, and it is unfair on the students as well. So there are a lot of things needs to be sorted out in the third-level sector, and Minister, I wish you well with it.
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