Shane Cassells (Meath West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Okay. I turn to higher education, which was mentioned by a number of speakers, and the expert report on same. Section 2.3 of that report has a startling headline. I think it sums up the entire report. The headline reads, "The Contribution of Higher Education to Ireland's Development is Now Threatened". It points out, "Core funding per student in Ireland fell by 22 per cent in the seven year period to 2015." It goes on to state:

There is a real danger that all four of the key channels identified above will no longer function well. While this arises primarily because of the limitation on resources, the funding problem is interacting with other trends in ways that need to be understood.

That report recommended that expenditure should increase to €2.4 billion by 2021 and to €2.8 billion by 2030. It was obviously well debated in the context of the budget, but the allocations within the budget have obviously not met what was set out. Does the witness accept the figures that were put forward in terms of what has to be achieved? More importantly, what is his view on the pace of the implementation of attaining those figures, given the timelines that have been set out?