Alan Kelly (Tipperary, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I want to dig into this issue because it is one of my main concerns. We have been around the houses in this committee on numerous occasions with issues relating to the third level sector. We did a specific report on it, in fact, and there is a whole quagmire of issues relating to how third level funding operates in respect of third party organisations, etc. We hear a lot about philanthropists funding various third level organisations. We know that Ireland Funds and various other organisations are providing funding to third level. We have had debates where representatives of colleges and universities have come in and said they are putting a sign over a building in Cork, for example, stating that the funding came from private funds they generated themselves, whether through donations or other income. That is complete and utter garbage because the taxpayer has to provide funding in the first place before those bodies are able to access other sources of income.

If the witnesses do not have the information I am seeking, we will need to come back to it another day. I will not stop pursuing the matter because I have a deep nervousness about how these funds are being given to third level colleges, what the Charities Regulator is and is not aware of in this regard, and for what purposes the colleges are using the funds. Are they charitable donations or are they being given for research? Are they being given to the various alumni associations that have been set up to assist in the funding of third level institutions? We have a figure for 2017 but we cannot break it down. Where are we at in regard to 2018?