Ciarán Cannon (Galway East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for their interesting input. It challenges us all to assess how exactly to approach the funding of third level and support the sector in the future, especially bearing in mind we will have almost 30% more students in the sector by 2028, which, frankly, is a frightening statistic.

I have a couple of observations which may morph into questions. Mr. Costello stated that in times of financial strife and difficulty, the amount of non-Exchequer funding of the sector increased significantly. Was I correct in observing that?