Donna McGettigan

150. Deputy Donna McGettigan asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science if he will consider additional financial supports for students on a temporary basis due to increasing travel costs that students are currently facing as we approach exam time; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34974/26]

Will the Minister consider additional financial supports for students on a temporary basis due to the increase in travel costs that students are currently facing, particularly at this time of exams?

I welcome the fact the Minister said he is trying, although the 10 cent reduction has already come and gone and it is still costing students and their families more to travel. Some students have no choice but to live at home and travel because there is no accommodation for them. We are coming into the exam period and there is also uncertainty around the student fees with the current cost of living…

Would the Minister look at the costings for a temporary free travel scheme for students affected by the current fuel crisis? We are not looking for this to be a permanent measure but, rather, a temporary one to get them over this period. Such a scheme could lift the burden on students commuting long distances to colleges. Any relief on the cost of living would make a significant difference to stud…

152. Deputy Donna McGettigan asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science the framework or protection he will put in place to ensure that any service charge will be included in the rent charge for students in student accommodation, given that otherwise the service charge can soar up; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34975/26]

The Minister said that he does not like to see this happening in reply to me in committee. However, the RTB has said that if the rent is set out at the start with the services charged separately, the charge can stay separate. We have seen in institutions that the increase is around 7%, when we look at the rent rise and the rise of the service charges. I would like the Minister to sit down with the…

I hear that but I am still not hearing that the Minister will examine the service charge and the rent section going out together. It is a loophole and it will cause issues for students down the line if service charges can go up. They did in one institution recently where the cost increased by 7%. We need to sit down with students, with the Minister for housing and with the Minister, Deputy Lawless…

154. Deputy Donna McGettigan asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science for an update on the progress in providing third level courses through the medium of Irish across the country; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34976/26]

The Minister will have to excuse me. Táim ag foghlaim Gaeilge anois. Níor thuig mé gach rud a dúirt an tAire. I welcome any progress made on this issue. My son went through bunscoil and Gaelcholáiste and when he went on to college, there were certain words and phrases he struggled to understand, particularly in science. The Government has set a target that 20% of new recruits to the public service…

In a recent submission to the committee on further and higher education, Conradh na Gaeilge called for at least 5% of third level courses to be available through the medium of Irish. Does the Department have any plans to have this? The Irish language is enjoying a cultural revolution, particularly through the music scene. An awful lot of young people now want to take up the language, to learn the …

The cost-of-living crisis is putting significant pressure on workers and families. Bills are rising, rents are soaring and wages are simply not keeping pace. While employment figures are often hailed as good news, they only tell part of the story, because behind those headline numbers is a reality this Government refuses to face. One quarter of jobs in Ireland are considered poor quality, characte…

I recently sent the Taoiseach a parliamentary question which he declined to answer. The question was to him and was about the decision-making process behind the recent announcement of a 200-bed hospital unit in Raheen, Limerick, which is option B, part of the HIQA recommendations. People in Clare are asking, when were the Taoiseach and the Cabinet made aware of this? It seems some of his own TDs a…

But I was asking the Taoiseach, not-----

I am not against it. It is positive for Limerick but-----

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Bad tone.

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As soon as I read the Bill, I knew straight away, going by the data, that students would be badly affected by this. The Bill will have profound and deeply damaging consequences for students and we must call this for what it is: another failure of this Government's broken housing policy. Students are at the very heart of this housing crisis. Young people trying to make their lives better are having…

I thank Deputies Devine and Carthy for this very important and timely Bill. Speedy action on this is required now; not next year, not after another review, but now. During the period from 29 December 2025 through to 9 January 2026, Grok is estimated to have generated approximately 3 million sexualised images, including 23,000 that appear to depict children. Let us be absolutely clear on this, thes…

Under this Residential Tenancies (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill, students will be among the hardest hit. At a time when students are already being pushed to the pin of their collar and students’ unions are having to set up food banks, the Government is choosing to turn its back on them once again with this Fianna Fáil-Fine Gael, rip-off rent hike Bill. Under these proposals, student-specific acco…

The Bord Bia quality and trust mark is something I trust and look for as a consumer. It means something to people. It tells us that what we are eating is safe, meets the highest standards and comes from our land. The fact that I can trace what I am eating back to a farmer or field in Ireland is reassuring and something I value deeply, not just because you are what you eat, but because it allows me…

82. Deputy Donna McGettigan asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science when the student accommodation strategy will be released, and whether it will contain proposals to allow the providers of private student accommodation to hike rents more often than for those in purpose-built student accommodation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7343/2…