Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

All present will agree there is a need for a sustainable funding model for higher education. Such a model is not currently in place. That might be where agreement ends because there are diverse views on the matter. I have heard a few of those views already at this meeting. I suggest that we should be guided but not bound by the report the previous Oireachtas asked the Department of Education and Skills to commission on foot of the Cassells report. That was due back at the end of this year but Covid has delayed it, as it has everything else. It is now due back at the start of 2021. When the report is received, I expect there will be extensive conversations on it at this committee. I am sure the committee will wish to hear from its authors and so on.

The SUSI grant system already results in more than 40% of students not paying a registration fee, which is a good thing. The Chairman is correct. We need to have a sustainable funding model and ensure there are no barriers to access. I am a little concerned that worries about leaving college with debt may be a barrier for some students or families. I would be very cautious or nervous in that regard because people may be fearful of that idea. It is not a political point - Deputy Conway-Walsh and I have debated this previously - to state that the system in place in the North is not one the Deputy would wish to have replicated in the South. I would not like it to be replicated in the South either. We need to tease our way through this issue. I expect we will spend a lot of time discussing this issue in 2021.