Joanna Tuffy (Dublin Mid West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

At the same time, I note the Irish Universities Association appeared before the joint committee. At the time of cutbacks, the universities increased the level of funding they brought in from other sources in different ways, such as by providing courses, through philanthropy or whatever. A couple of issues arise from that. First, as we are coming out of the recession and a recovery is under way, surely now is the time to start spending more at the different levels, including third level? Second, has the Higher Education Authority been consulted to figure out whether part of the sector is more under pressure than other parts? Is the university sector better than the institute of technology sector and, if so, has this been considered or examined?

On another point, which I acknowledge is a discussion for another day, as a country, we were able to go from spending €15 billion per annum on social welfare to €20 billion per annum for X number of years. As it is known there is a defined period during which the demographics will increase at third level and obviously, more people will be at work to pay taxes, can a decision be made to the effect that the type of increase that was made for a little while in respect of social welfare - because obviously there was a crisis with which to deal - could be made in respect of third level education for a defined period?