Public Expenditure & Reform Minister Brendan Howlin has announced plans for savings of €132.3m from education.
He said education would make up around 17% or €8.6 billion of all current spending next year and would continue to be a priority for the Government.
He announced the ''difficult'' decision to increase third-level student contributions by €250, saying this was being done in order to protect the higher education sector from what would otherwise have been greater cuts in that areas.
Minister Howlin said that while the Government had to make savings by abolishing student support for some new post-graduate students, it would make a contribution towards the fees of the post-graduate students from the lowest income backgrounds.
A 2% reduction in capitation grants to schools will save €7m, while there will also be a 2% fall in core funding for higher education, saving €23.6m.
The Minister also said that most other departments would also experience spending reductions, including measures in the Department of Agriculture, the Marine and Food which will save €105m. The Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport will see measures which will result in savings of €45m while the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government will see savings of €34m.
