{"id":12881,"date":"2025-06-30T15:00:31","date_gmt":"2025-06-30T14:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/?p=12881"},"modified":"2025-06-30T15:03:16","modified_gmt":"2025-06-30T14:03:16","slug":"ff-and-fg-must-get-their-act-together-on-student-fees","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/ff-and-fg-must-get-their-act-together-on-student-fees\/","title":{"rendered":"FF and FG must get their act together on student fees"},"content":{"rendered":"

There has been total radio silence from the Minister today, who has gone into hiding<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Fianna F\u00e1il and Fine Gael need to get their act together and keep their commitments to students and families to reduce third level fees, according to Social Democrats education spokesperson Jen Cummins.<\/p>\n

\u201cYesterday, Minister for Higher Education James Lawless dropped a bombshell on students and their families when he said the student contribution would go up.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust a few short months from the start of the new college year, the Minister stated fees would go up by \u20ac1,000. This is despite a commitment in the programme for government to reduce these costs.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese comments have caused huge amounts of stress and anxiety today, but there has been total radio silence from the Minister, who has gone into hiding.<\/p>\n

\u201cMeanwhile, a backbench Fine Gael TD, Maeve O\u2019Connell, has now released a statement stating Fine Gael are committed to reducing fees.<\/p>\n

\u201cFianna F\u00e1il and Fine Gael need to get their act together, end this phoney war and live up to their commitments to students. This speculation, about whether fees are going up, must now be brought to an end.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Minister must immediately explain whether commitments in the programme for government are worth the paper they are written on.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There has been total radio silence from the Minister today, who has gone into hiding Fianna F\u00e1il and Fine Gael need to get their act together and keep their commitments to students and families to reduce third level fees, according to Social Democrats education spokesperson Jen Cummins. \u201cYesterday, Minister for Higher Education James Lawless dropped […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":12301,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[218,581,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12881","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-education","category-jen-cummins","category-press-release"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nFF and FG must get their act together on student fees - Social Democrats<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/ff-and-fg-must-get-their-act-together-on-student-fees\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"ga_IE\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"FF and FG must get their act together on student fees - 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