Tommy Broughan (Dublin Bay North, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I apologise for missing the earlier part of the meeting. One of the events I was attending was with the Union of Students in Ireland who were putting forward their strong opposition to student loans as a way of funding third level education into the future. Do either of the Departments have any ideas on a way forward in that regard? I was also questioning the Minister about it. There may be an extra €360 million spending from the employers and from the Department of Education and Skills but has there been any long-term planning around our grossly under-funded third level system - particularly since 2011 - and how it could be maintained to a high level into the future? The media gets very worried when our universities drop out of the top 100 lists. The students have told us that in countries such as Germany where there is State funding the colleges seem to be very close to the top of the lists.