Government split as minister casts doubt on further student fee cut

Higher education minister James Lawless said an overspend at the Department of Education could limits ambitions to cut fees further

Students have protested about the amount of fees being paid in recent years, with a cut in last year's budget by €500 was seen as not nearly going far enough. Picture: Stephen Collins/Collins Photos

A row over student fees has reopened in the Government coalition, after higher education minister James Lawless cast doubt on doing so in this year's budget.

Fine Gael's spokesperson on higher education Maeve O'Connell said it was "disappointing" and "invalid" reasoning, after Fianna Fáil TD Mr Lawless told Newstalk radio that it was too soon to say if he would cut fees in October's Budget.

The Government delivered a permanent €500 fee cut in October’s budget, reducing the amount paid by students from €3,000 a year to €2,500, but there was criticism because the previous year's fees had been €2,000 due to cost of living supports.

While the programme for government commits to reductions, Mr Lawless said in a recent parliamentary response that an overspend at the Department of Education could limit his ambitions. 

Government departments were last month asked to contribute a levy to provide an additional €646m to the Department of Education due to a deficit.

"The recent Government decision to levy departments to cover expenditure pressures in other Departments may necessitate limitations on new measures in Budget 2027," he told Fine Gael TD Michael Murphy.

"Notwithstanding this, I will again pursue options that are equitable, funded, fair, and that build upon the permanent improvements that were made for the 2025/26 academic year."

Speaking on Tuesday, Mr Lawless said: “It’s 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.” 

This drew a response from Ms O'Connell, who said that the cuts should be examined.

"Ministers always have choices as to how they’re going to invest in funds that they have, and the minister also passed the National Training Fund amendment legislation this year, which does give him access to additional funding for his department.

"So he's actually in a better financial position, potentially, than other departments this year and I don't think that's a valid reason to not look at reducing student fees."

Ms O'Connell said that the next budget must be about "working families".

"I'm disappointed that the minister is not interested in bringing to Cabinet any reduction in student fees.

"I think it's a very early stage in the budget process, but I would like to see that that's still on the table at this stage in the budget process."