With the numbers of postgraduate students falling in Ireland, Fianna Fail have echoed the long-held concerns of student groups, calling on the government to reverse the “appallingly regressive” removal of postgraduate maintenance grants by the previous Fine Gael-Labour coalition in 2012. In a press statement, the party’s Spokesperson on Education and Skills, Thomas Byrne, described the restoration of the grants as “absolutely essential”. Their removal, he added, has acted as a “barrier to accessing further education”. Since the grants were removed in 2012 the number of students entering postgraduate degrees has fallen. In a Dáil debate in May, the Minister for Education and Skills, Richard … Continue reading With Student Numbers Falling, Fianna Fáil Joins Unions Calling for Reintroduction of Postgraduate Grants