The anonymous Minister said, "having 47,000 lying in bed enjoying the PUP grant is an astonishing number" adding "there is a real danger we are going to develop a culture of welfare dependency in our students."
Speaking on Today With Claire Byrne, Harris said that the comments were "ignorant", "crass" and "inappropriate" adding that the past year had been "extraordinarily difficult" for students.
"If I knew the name of that Minister I would have rang them up and told them that their comments were inappropriate, ignorant, and downright stupid," he said.
"This year has been extraordinarily difficult for everyone in our country, we don’t need to go through that again, and it’s been particularly difficult in many ways for younger people.