Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

As the Deputy will note from the briefing documentation, the reduction of approximately 70% is attributed to the impact of the Haddington Road agreement on salary costs and related savings, the €250 increase in the student contribution and the ongoing 1% cut in core pay and non-pay allocations to third level institutions announced in budget 2012. The reduced allocation also reflects the decision in this budget to retain the 2013 reduction of €25 million to the higher education institutions in general by requiring them to use the existing large cash deposits and reserves available to them. Although we rolled over the reduction for another year, we will repay the money. That is the explanation. I do not know if the most significant of the three factors I cited was the Haddington Road agreement or whether each contributed equally to the savings.