Minister for Higher Education James Lawless has said he was operating within the “context of a shrinking budgetary pool” in reducing third-level fees by €500, which students have criticised as an “effective increase”.
Speaking on Wednesday morning at Government Buildings, the Minister said it was the first permanent cut to college fees since free fees were introduced in 1995, describing it as a “landmark reform”.
However, students have criticised the permanent cut, having had consecutive “once-off” reductions of €1,000 in the last three budgets.
Asked about the effective increase, Mr Lawless said there is “no limit on my ambition or my empathy, there is a limit on my resources”.
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“We have to take our budgetary allocation and proportion that within,” he said, adding that he was mindful of the fact that students had a higher reduction in recent years, and it was a “challenge” to replace this with a €500 cut.
He added that these cost-of-living cuts were also criticised as being “unguaranteed” and “very uncertain”, saying this caused worry and confusion in households each summer.
Mr Lawless said these €1,000 cuts were “unsustainable”, and he was satisfied he managed to enforce a permanent reduction “in the context of a shrinking budgetary pool” and within the “limited resources” available to his department.
“I appreciate it may not be quite what they might have hoped for, and indeed maybe not quite what I would have originally hoped to deliver, but it is permanent,” he said.
Mr Lawless pledged that fees will not increase again, “on my watch, at least”, and, noting it is the first of five budgets in this Government’s term, said there is a “lot more I’d like to do”.
Mr Lawless’ department was allocated almost €5 billion in Budget 2026, some €4.1 billion of which will allow for the permanent fee reduction and changes to student grants, increased investment in apprenticeships, and more than 1,100 additional places in highly sought-after courses such as medicine and nursing. The permanent reduction in fees will cost the State €52.9 million this academic year.
Capital funding of €810 million has also been allocated, some of which will be used for student accommodation projects at Maynooth University and University College Dublin.
It will also be used to establish two new veterinary schools at South East Technological University (SETU) and Atlantic Technological University (ATU), which are expected to facilitate 80 additional veterinary students annually from 2026.
Separately, it was announced on Wednesday that Student Universal Support Ireland (Susi) non-adjacent payments for those living 30km or more from their college campus are set to rise by between €200 and €430, depending on the band.
The increases will come into effect from September 2026, with a pro-rata increase from January 2026, and are expected to benefit some 30,000 students.
The Susi postgraduate fee contribution grant is also rising from €4,000 to €4,500 this academic year.
