The Irish government has announced a permanent €500 (?435) cut to yearly student fees, bringing them down from €3,000 to €2,500 ¨C but the new total is likely to constitute an increase for many students, as a €1,000-per-year fee relief scheme ends.

Under?Ireland¡¯s free fees initiative, most undergraduate students residing in the European Economic Area, Switzerland or the UK do not have to pay tuition fees, instead paying a yearly ¡°student contribution¡± to their university.

The 2026 budget announced on 7 October includes the reduction of the maximum student contribution from €3,000 to €2,500 per year. However, since the 2022-23 academic year, the government has contributed €1,000 per year to each student¡¯s fees as part of a cost-of-living crisis initiative, in effect reducing the yearly total to €2,000.

Earlier this year, further and higher education minister James Lawless suggested that the fee relief initiative would be discontinued, a move described by Aontas na Mac L¨¦inn in ?irinn (AML?), the national representative body for Irish students, as a ¡°calculated betrayal¡±.

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Student leaders met with Lawless after the Irish Examiner reported on the ?last month, .?¡°Every Union emphasised the importance of reducing the current €3,000 student contribution charge,¡±?said?president Bryan O¡¯Mahony.

Describing the €500 cut as a ¡°sleight of hand, touting a ¡®reduction¡¯ which will feel to students like a sizeable increase¡±, O¡¯Mahony called the move ¡°utterly unacceptable to our members¡±, adding, ¡°We are all urging this government to do the right thing and act with integrity.¡±

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The 2026 budget also sees the income threshold for student grant eligibility increase by €5,000. To be eligible for financial support through the Student Grant Scheme ¨C funding commonly known as the SUSI grant, after awarding body Student Universal Support Ireland ¨C households with fewer than four dependent children must now have an income of €120,000 or less, a limit that previously stood at €115,000.

emily.dixon@timeshighereducation.com