Catherine Martin (Dublin Rathdown, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

We see a scenario where the amount spent on higher level education is not enough to sustain the sector and it is reaching crisis point. The State currently spends just over half of what it spent in 2008 on each full-time student equivalent. We are only two years away from the Cassells report's first major benchmark in 2021, which is the requirement to provide an additional €600 million in annual spending from 2015 to 2021 to bring the overall spending up to €2.4 billion. We still await an economic analysis on the report. How does the Minister plan to deal with the impending funding gap? Many institutions are already experiencing the consequences, which will only get worse until action is taken.

Subhead C16 refers to capital expenditure. The increase of more than 200% in the funding allocation over the past year is welcome. To which projects will this funding be allocated? I ask the Minister to elaborate on the allocation.

On the equality budgeting objectives for the Athena SWAN award, what percentage of all State funded third level institutes are involved? How many or what percentage of them applied? What measures are being taken to promote the award? What percentage of school leavers have disabilities? Is there a disparity in the percentage leaving school and those going on to third level? What is the current percentage of women in senior academic roles?