Fianna Fáil TD in County Cork Michael Moynihan has heavily criticised the Government for failing to keep its promises to students and their parents across Cork in relation to third level fees and student grants.****
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The Dáil this week debated a Fianna Fáil motion calling on the Minister for Education Ruairí Quinn to stop the year-on-year increases in third level fees and start taking responsibility for the unprecedented crisis in processing student grants this year. Unfortunately, this motion was voted down by Government parties meaning thousands of students have been left in limbo with no idea of when their grant applications will be processed. ****
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The latest figures show that more than 5,000 students from across Cork city and county are still waiting for their grant applications to be processed by the new centralised student grant system, SUSI, set up this year by Minister Quinn.****
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Deputy Moynihan explained, “Minister Quinn was quick to bask in praise when SUSI was established. But now that his new system is riddled with problems and threatening the third level education of many students in Cork and across the country, the Minister wants to blame everyone else instead of taking responsibility himself. I have spoken to many local students who have been unable to register properly in college as a result of these problems, can’t get any answer from officials, and are now at risk of having to drop out of college unless the Government starts taking action.*** *
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“Students and their parents in Cork have been abandoned spectacularly by Minister Quinn and his colleagues. Many voters across this region voted for Labour and Fine Gael in the last general election based on their promises not to increase the cost of college. These families are now wondering what has happened to those promises now? They were used by the Minister to achieve power and quickly discarded when he secured it.****
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“Minister Quinn is essentially reintroducing third level fees through the back door. He already increased the student registration fee by €250 this year and he plans to increase it by a further €750 over the next three years. That’s a massive hike of over €1,000 in the lifetime of this government. He abolished post-graduate grants, thereby putting further education out of the reach of many students who want to up-skill here in Ireland. And for those first-year students who need a grant to get through college, Minister Quinn has failed abysmally to ensure they get this support within a reasonable time frame. ****
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“This week in the Dáil, Labour and Fine Gael TDs from across Cork failed to stand by the promises they made to students to win their votes by voting against Fianna Fáil’s motion. This Dáil Motion called on the Government to stop its sneaky increases in third level fees and stop its covert cuts in student grants. It also called on the Government to protect a range of critical frontline education services at primary and second level. The students of Cork have been let down by this Government of broken promises.”