Simon Harris says Budget 2023 will reduce the cost of college

Simon Harris was speaking to the media on Wednesday after his visit to Trinity College Dublin.  Picture: Brian Lawless/PA

College fees for third-level students could fall by up to €250 a year under plans to address the cost-of-living crisis in next month’s budget. 

Students and their families who pay €3,000 in college fees each year are to benefit from new measures, both in the budget and the €1bn cost-of-living package, senior government sources have said.

An options paper for how to bring down the cost of college admissions will be published next week but Further and Higher Education Minister Simon Harris is believed to have pushed for a direct cut to the cost of the registration fees.

There had been a suggestion the cut could be as high as €500, but sources have indicated it may be limited to a €250 cut this year.

It is understood that Mr Harris has no preference on how the overall cost of going to college is reduced, with an expansion of grant eligibility also on the table, which could mean more people are exempt from paying.

However, some TDs, particularly in Fine Gael, said they would prefer a larger universal cut to the fee so that more people benefit.

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Speaking at Trinity College, Mr Harris said he “proudly believes that we have to help people who get up early in the morning, who work hard, and feel they don’t get any financial support and assistance from the Government”.

He said this should come in the form of long and short-term financial support mechanisms. He said: 

I’m very clear that if there’s a package to help people with the cost of living between now and the end of the year, and a package into 2023, I want students and their parents to be part of both. 

“So there needs to be in Budget 2023 immediate measures that help hardworking families now, and measures for next year,” he added.

Pupil-teacher ratios at primary level are set to reduce by one point, under budget plans being developed by Education Minister Norma Foley.

The effect of this change will be to allow primary schools operating the standard staffing schedule to reduce the general average from 24:1 to 23:1, sources have suggested.

The cost of reducing class sizes is estimated to be about €30m per year.

Despite progress in reducing class sizes in recent times, Irish primary class sizes remain well above the EU average of 20, with many schools still having classes of more than 30 pupils.

Higher Education Minister Simon Harris with Trinity College Dublin provost Linda Doyle during his visit to the college's soon-to-open disAbility hub, part of its new disability service development. Picture:  Brian Lawless/PA

During the pandemic, Ireland was the only country that had to contend with social distancing in classes with such a high number of pupils.

Academic studies regularly and clearly identify a correlation between smaller class sizes and better individual student outcomes, with pupils from minority and disadvantaged backgrounds performing better in smaller classes.

To deliver a one-point reduction in the pupil-teacher ratio in 2022, the total number of new teaching posts created this year will be 1,750.

Of these posts, 980 additional teachers will be working with children with special educational needs.

Some 420 additional posts will arise following the inclusion of more schools in the DEIS scheme, while a further 350 new teaching posts will be created at primary level arising from a further reduction in the staffing schedule.