Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

We have gone through a great deal of what is happening this year, but what will happen next year is very important. Guidance counselling was mentioned. I am a little disappointed by the Minister's statement that the decision on ex quota teachers has still to be made. He will recall not only from my meetings with him on the issue but also from the confidence and supply agreement Fianna Fáil has with the Government that the restoration of guidance counselling is a key priority, with everything else. Certainly, it is a condition of the way the minority Government operates. Fianna Fáil must see significant progress towards that commitment which was explicitly stated by the Minister being made.

The same applies to postgraduate grants. There is a reference in the note to the fact that the financial cost of will be €17 million next year and €53 million in a full year. Again, there is mention of the fact that a sum of €5 million would get us off to a start, but we do not expect everything we seek to be achieved in the first budget. We know that cannot happen, but there must be substantial and visible progress. However, I do not see how a sum of €5 million would make that work. It is very low, unless the Minister can say it is €5 million in 2017 only. I visited Alltech Bioscience Centre in my constituency. It is a very progressive company in which practically everybody working in science has a postgraduate degree or studying for one. Companies such as Alltech Bioscience Centre fund some of their staff, but we cannot depend on the private sector alone to fund postgraduate students. Everybody must have the opportunity to undertake postgraduate studies, not only for his or her and society's benefit but also to attract investment to the country to create jobs, which is so important.

Third level funding is absolutely critical. We will discuss the Cassells report in the next few months. I spoke yesterday to somebody who was a member of the expert group and vociferously opposed to the provision of student loans and had campaigned against them publicly. There are, therefore, various views, even in the group. There also will be various views here on the issue. However, everybody, even Peter Cassells, would say that even if one wanted to provide student loans - not everybody does - the measure could not be implemented this year, next year or the year after. There is, therefore, an immediate funding need for those years and so forth. It has been outlined for over 15 years. There must be an injection of €100 million this year into the system to pay for teachers. The Minister has clarified that even if it were granted, it would not go towards the cost of meeting the Lansdowne Road agreement commitments. Perhaps he might confirm that if there were extra funding for the university system, the Lansdowne Road agreement commitments are already covered. This is important.

I mentioned something to the Taoiseach yesterday and he was not surprised. Perhaps he should not be surprised, but we wish to see action. A college professor contacted me this week. He has 470 students in a room that accommodates 450. That is commonplace, but it is not sustainable. Our university rankings have gone down mainly because of the funding crisis. That leads to reputational issues which bring us back down the ranks again. It is a vicious circle, but if we managed to increase funding, we could turn it in to a virtuous circle. Our universities could look to Asia to try to attract students who pay substantial fees that help to fund the system. They will not be interested in our universities when their rankings are going down. Regardless of whether we like the rankings - they are not a perfect measure - many students, the consumers of education, take account of them. It is essential that the Minister get the ball rolling by having the money injected into the system in order other money will follow, particularly from abroad.