Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I support the suggestion from Deputy David Cullinane that we come back to it. I want to place this in context. We have had repeated calls for fees - we actually have them for universities but they are called registration charges - and claims that universities are starved of money. To make a judgment, we need all the information. We have never gotten that. However, the one-sided mantra has gone out that they need money and are starved of funding. There has been no open public discussion on the use of public facilities for private gain. What is the public getting back? I am no expert. All we can do here is simply seek to highlight it with the help of the Comptroller and Auditor General in respect of value for money. However, there is a role for other people in our civic society, including journalists. Our committee does not have enough support. I do not know how the staff manage all of this.

It is a work in itself to read the stuff never mind where we are going with it. One of the key issues for me are the foundations - they have come up repeatedly and those accounts have still not been consolidated or given in a manner the HEA would agree with. We also need a discussion at this level, and outside of here, on the use of public land, public money and public facilities for private gain. I refer to seeing where the gain comes back to the public. I have a final point about the spin-out companies. It comes as a surprise to me that Galway comes top of the list I have looked at. It certainly did not come out when we had one of the magnificent seven before us.