Students and their parents to get financial help Martin tells party meeting

Taoiseach Micheál Martin has said he has not ruled out the possibility of a statutory inquiry for the Women of Honour group, who have highlighted allegations of assaults and sexual harassment within the Defence Forces.

Mr Martin briefed the Fianna Fáil parliamentary party on Wednesday about his meeting with the group and said he wanted a judge-led scoping inquiry to get underway as quickly as possible.

The group walked out of a meeting with Minister for Foreign Affairs and Defence Simon Coveney last week after not receiving an undertaking there would be a statutory inquiry.

The Taoiseach also told Fianna Fáil colleagues the Government will look to extend its measures to address the rising cost of living to students and parents facing hardship in the education sector.

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Micheál Martin that he was acutely aware of the costs of education. According to party colleagues who attended the meeting in Leinster House, he said he was examining measures to assist students and parents.

“On third-level funding we acknowledge the need to provide a core level of funding that supports colleges and universities and the need to address the demographic pressures that are there,” he told his party’s TDs and Senators.

It comes on the back of measures agreed at the highest level of Government to deal with the impact of the sharp increase in inflation during 2021 and early 2022, especially in the energy sector.

Mr Martin told the meeting he was committed to ensure that the spending power of people was protected.

“We are conscious of the impact of the cost of living and how much of it is energy related,” he said.

“It is important to protect the disposable income of workers and families.”

He said the Government was now looking at a range of measures to enable people to cope with the cost of living increases and to protect people’s disposable incomes during a difficult time.

Rationale

Minister for Education Norma Foley also outlined her rationale for choosing a written Leaving Certificate examination in 2022. There was little resistance expressed to the decision.

“There was some relief among us that the Leaving Cert changes have been well received by the vast majority of students. It is felt the issue has been put to bed,” one TD said.

He also told the meeting that the Government would announce a major retrofitting scheme next week which would address the need to make it affordable. He acknowledged there were issues with retrofitting at present, particularly the up-front costs.

Mr Martin said concerns related to orthopaedic waiting times for children are concerning, especially in the light of new disclosures which showed that children with spina bifida were waiting up to four years for surgery.

“We have provided funding to give capacity to the health system to provide treatment and children cannot be waiting such an inordinate length of time. The system must deliver on the resources they have been provided,” he said.

Mr Martin also claimed colleagues that Sinn Féin was hardening its strategy to attack the government.

“We can’t allow their parliamentary and political tactics that seek to delay progress on many key issues. We in Fianna Fáil are in a government of action that wants to get things done,” he said.