Sinn Féin proposals will assist students and young people – Stanley
Announcing the measures SinnFéin TD Brian Stanley said
“With a growing number from the county attending 3rd level education and by necessity outside the county, we are putting forward a package of measures to assist students in particular from middle to low income housholds. Sinn Féin want to ease the hardships and difficulties students have suffered in recent years.”
“Sinn Féin’s 2016 manifesto includes measures that would ease the burden of college fee’s for students. These are costed and budgeted for and would reduce college fees by €500 in our first year in Government and we would seek to reduce it further over time. Former Labour Minister Ruairí Quinn signed a pledge five years ago not to increase student fees, however they went on to increase them 5 years in a row by €1,000.
SinnFéin would promote and fund a robust grants system, to ensure that no one finds third level education out of their reach due to lack of income or disadvantage.”
“There are 60,000 less young people in the workforce since this Government took office, and 200,000 less people under the age of 35 living in the state. 1 in 6 of Irish Citizens now reside abroad, the highest in the OECD.”
“ Unemployment among young people is the highest in Europe, and when work is found it is often in the form of agency, limited entitlement work, or zero hours contracts.
“The Government has directly played into this, because it clearly sees young people and graduates as a form of cheap labour and has put significant emphasis on exploitative schemes such as Jobbridge and Gateway, which generally offer little by way of real training, and displace real jobs.We would end the Jobbridge scheme, and introduce a fair equitable internship scheme that is properly monitored, involves real training, and doesn’t allow exploitation by unscrupulous workers. We would invest in creating real, high quality, full time jobs, in the public and private sector.”
Deputy Stanley concluded by saying
“Sinn Féin also recognise how badly students have been hit by the Housing Crisis. Our measures on rent controls would link rent increases to the level of inflation and ease the burden on students staying away from home. We would work with colleges and student bodies to plan suitable student accommodation on education sites. We would also ensure homeowners availing of the rent a room relief register with the PRTB, to provide deposit protection for students.
“The issues of college fees, good employment opportunities and reasonable and affordable housing for young people needs to be given greater importance.” ENDS
