Could the money given to students in budget 2021 be used in a better way?

Return to lockdown is devastating but virus has to be quelled

By Darragh Nolan

Let’s make no secret of it; lockdown is torturous. We all experienced first-hand the struggle of being confined to the house with no social outlets. We spent months away from friends and loved ones and we watched as Covid-19 ravaged society and did untold damage to the lives of millions.

It’s ok to feel personal loss while staring down the barrel of six weeks of the toughest restrictions. 2020 has been the toughest year many of us have or ever will live through. People need social contact, normality, things to do beyond the confines of deskwork and Netflix.

Lockdown life is utterly soul-destroying and going back to it is devastating. That’s no excuse to continue on the trajectory we found ourselves on. Cases of the virus are soaring, and our health service was bound to become overwhelmed without a move to Level 5.

With 1,200 daily coronavirus cases becoming the norm and NPHET projecting that number would

By Darren Casserly

Opinion Editor Recently, it was announced that in the 2021 budget, every third-level student would be given 250 euro to help with college expenses. This plan would cost around 50 million euro for the government, and while it will be greatly appreciated by the vast majority of people, is there a better way to help students with the 50 million euro?

The first thing that comes to my mind when thinking of alternative uses for the money would be to put it to the emergency relief fund for the students who need it the most. Lets’ be honest for a second, while very few students have any kind of sizable amount of money at their disposal, there is a percentage whose college enrolment depends of some kind of emergency relief in order to get by and putting an extra 50 million in the fund it will undoubtably have a huge impact on people and see some kind of a drop in the dropout rate in college.

Another use that comes to mind that would be a little more unrealistic, would be putting the money into building student accommodation around the country. While the problems with accommodation were softened this year thanks to this current pandemic, it will be a problem that will creep up again next year. There are areas around the country like Galway, Limerick and Cork where accommodation can be hard to come by, and Dublin is already far past capacity. Extra accommodation would lower rise to 2,000 per day unless Level 5 was swiftly implemented, there’s no legitimate argument against some form of tight restrictions.

The return to conditions similar to April and May will admittedly do untold damage to businesses and livelihoods across the country. The balancing act between the health of the nation and the health of the economy is a decision our country should never have to make. But in that scenario, the health of people must come first.

This virus has infected tens of thousands of Irish people and claimed over 1,800 lives at the time of writing. Lockdown brings recession the likes of which wasn’t seen even during the financial crisis of the late noughties. But recessions we can recover from. Economies can and will be revived. People on the other hand, only get one crack at this. And there’s no coming back for anyone who has lost their life to Covid.

For now, a return to what is effectively another lockdown is the right call. Indeed, it’s the only call

Recessions we can recover from. Economies can and will be revived. People on the other hand, only get one crack at this. And there’s no coming back for anyone who has lost their life to Covid.

Could the money given to students in budget 2021 be used in a better way?

given the circumstances. That is not to say the cycle rent across the board not just for students. It would also mean that the dreaded digs will no longer be the norm. Unfortunately, no one wants to have students living anywhere near them and planning permission would be a nightmare, it would be mean that the 250 euro every student is getting would stretch a lot further, even if not every student can avail of it.

The last alternative use I’m going to discuss is using the money to lower the cost of tuition for students. This would mean that money wouldn’t be such a problem for anyone even thinking of enrolling in college. The cost of tuition has been a problem for students for years leading to Ireland being one of the most expensive countries in the EU to go to attend college in, and it is high time the government stem the tide of rising cost for students.

The 250 euro is a start, but that’s all it is, it’s getting harder and harder for students to pay their way through college and more people are beginning to question if college is worth it. We need people going to college to improve as a country, and while there are alternative uses for this money, what will be important is long-term support from the government so that everyone can go to college and let it be their focus, rather than letting people worry how much longer they can pay for their education because education should be a right and not something anyone should have to fight tooth and nail over to attain. we find ourselves is in the best way forward. The government can’t sustain reducing cases with a lockdown, seeing numbers rise again after re-opening and follow it with another lockdown.

That is what we need at the moment. In the future there must be a plan put in place to ensure

Photo: Cork Beo

we safely maintain an open society. People simply will not cope with a constant back-and-forth from one level to another. By making sure lockdown doesn’t become necessary for a third time, we can put businesses and the economy on the road to recovery. Health is at the core of the fight against Covid-19. Public health, mental health, economic health. Level 5 is the best way to protect all of those things in the longterm. Beyond the six weeks of strict measures, the government must implement a strategy that allows people, businesses and services to break this cycle and beat this virus for good. There is an end goal here if we follow the rules. It’s on the government to lead us the rest of the way. If the last few months have shown us anything, it’s that reduced numbers don’t mean that we’re out of the woods.

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