Student fees have been permanently reduced by €150 in a budget that also saw the Department of Education secure record base funding following the top-ups required in previous years.
The €150 reduction in Budget 2027, announced on Tuesday, will bring the maximum student contribution fee per third-level student down to €2,350.
The move follows some confusion over recent days, with a €250 cut first mooted before doubt was cast over whether any reduction would be included at all.
However, the €150 cut falls far short of the €500 reduction sought by student unions in advance of the announcement.
RM Block
Other measures targeted at students and their families include a new student contribution fee grant for families with more than one child in higher education, and an increase in Student Universal Support Ireland (Susi) maintenance grant rates by 4.5 per cent from January.
Another measure that could help third-level students is the increase in tax relief available to those who let out rooms in their homes under the rent-a-room scheme.
This tax relief will increase from €14,000 a year to €16,000 a year in the hope this will in turn encourage more people to open their homes up for students seeking accommodation.
Some €5.3 billion was allocated to the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science to fund a new three-year national training fund skills package with a total investment of €360 million.
Out of that, funding of €150 million has been set aside to upskill people across the economy in artificial intelligence (AI).
“The development and diffusion of AI is not just a new trend,” said Minister for Public Expenditure Jack Chambers. “It is a paradigm shift that will have profound implications for our economy and society.
“As a country, we are well placed to take advantage of the opportunities that AI offers, but only if we equip our people with the skills of the future.”
Elsewhere, the number of apprenticeships will be expanded, while college places in health and social care professions will also be increased.
In primary and secondary level education, the Department of Education was allocated €14.4 billion in total for 2027. That is up from €13.5 billion in 2026, though the department required an additional €646 million in additional funding in April, bringing its final budget to €14.1 billion. A levy was imposed on other departments to cover this supplementary funding required by education.
The budget provided an extra €17 million for capitation funding in schools, which covers utility bills, maintenance and insurance costs. That equates to an increase of €68 per pupil at primary level, and an increase of €40 per pupil at post-primary level.
There will be an additional €2 million for the Deis Plus programme, a funding scheme for more than 100 of the most disadvantaged schools in the country that was launched this year.
Alongside that, there will be funding for an extra 100 home school community liaison co-ordinators – teachers who work within the community to improve outcomes for children at most risk of educational disadvantage.
The budget also includes a €56 million increase in special educational needs support, including 2,339 more special needs assistants, and 1,353 more special education teachers.
The school transport scheme, which brings 180,000 children to school every day, will get €1.6 billion of the education budget.
