Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Tuesday, 2 May 2017
Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills
Higher Education Funding: Discussion (Resumed)
5:40 pm
Dr. Darragh Flannery:
Yes. To answer Deputy Nolan in regard to the impact on access, as Dr. Doris suggested in terms of social inequalities and such issues, the system is inherently free at the point of access, as a fully taxpayer-funded system would be. Our submission shows the deficit and the funding implications of comparing those two systems. It shows that one system has significantly more adverse impacts from a debt or deficit perspective than the other.
Deputy Thomas Byrne asked what would happen if there were to be a recession. Third-level graduates have probably the most safeguards against the impact of a recession. If one looks at the previous recession in Ireland, graduates were affected but other people in society were particularly negatively affected. The system can remain sustainable across periods of recession.
Senator Ó Clochartaigh mentioned the idea of a build-up of debt and milestones in terms of mortgage and family formation. If one looks at the alternatives, for example, if higher education funding were increased, people might not face repayments in terms of income contingent loan system but may face higher taxes. The studies that the Senator mentioned in terms of the impact of-----
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