Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will have an opportunity to outline the technological university agenda at the second part of this meeting. I am very excited about it. It will be about more than just access to university education no matter where people live in our country, which is important. The impact on regional development could be very significant. The Deputy referenced the south east of our country. It has no universities. In the north west of the map of Ireland, forget about partition and politics, there is a big gaping hole, whether people are in Derry or Letterkenny, and there is a huge amount of work to be done there.

Specifically on the question about additional places, the Deputy is right to be looking ahead to the next leaving certificate. I am pleased we received funding in budget 2021 to retain, effectively, all of the additional places we put into the system this year. It was not a once-off blip or inflation of places. We have banked these places, which is important. A total of €18 million has also being provided in budget 2021 to deliver an additional 2,700 new undergraduate places from next September to address demographic growth pressures. This equates to an overall investment of almost €80 million since 2018 for extra places in higher education.

This year was an horrific year for students, but I hope one of the good things to come out of it will be significant investment in expanding higher education places. It would be very useful for the committee to hear from ourselves and the Department of Education on how we are planning and preparing, and I have no doubt it will do so. Deputy Ó Laoghaire previously questioned me on how we are preparing for the leaving certificate in 2021. From the Department's point of view, making the additional places for this year a permanent feature and putting in extra places for demographic pressures is a large part of the role we are trying to play.