The Irish Federation of University Teachers (IFUT) welcomes the announcement that Budget 2026 will feature a permanent €500 reduction in college fees, bringing annual student contributions down to €2,500. This step represents an important move towards making higher education more affordable and accessible for students and their families.   

However, IFUT stresses that the higher education sector remains chronically and structurally underfunded. Public spending on higher education as a share of national income has fallen by almost 40% since before the financial crisis, leaving Ireland ranked among the lowest in the EU for state support of its universities.  Last month IFUT published our pre-budget submission calling on the government to address this underfunding.  This sustained underinvestment has resulted in worsening student–staff ratios, precarious employment for academics, and reduced capacity for high-quality research and teaching. 

IFUT strongly emphasises that the €500 reduction in fees must not deepen this funding crisis. Instead, this shortfall must be fully compensated by increased central Exchequer funding. At present, student fees and international student income are being used to plug funding gaps, but this is neither sustainable nor fair. The benefits of higher education are shared by all of society—through graduate earnings, tax returns, and Ireland’s global competitiveness—and the system must therefore be properly and publicly resourced. 

The economic evidence is clear: every €1 spent on higher education generates a return that pays for itself, with research, graduate income, and exchequer contributions together providing a net positive impact on the national economy.  Yet despite this, Irish universities are forced to operate under conditions of declining public investment, growing reliance on precarious contracts, and inadequate capacity to support PhD graduates and early career researchers. 

Speaking today, Frank Jones, IFUT’s General Secretary said: 

“We welcome the Government’s move to reduce the financial burden on students. But let us be clear: this must not come at the cost of worsening an already unsustainable funding model. Ireland’s higher education system urgently needs renewed public investment, it remains our position that higher education in Ireland should be fully publicly funded if we are to safeguard quality teaching, research, and fair employment conditions in our universities.”