Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will have to get the Deputy a breakdown on that. I do not have that information available. The Deputy is trying to get under the bonnet to find out whether funded places were not taken up or funding was provided that did not match with places. That is highly unlikely considering we had a very intensive engagement with the universities and institutes of technology to try to match the extra demand arising from calculated grades, and had to do this again when students got an uplift when the error occurred.

This year, we are mapping out what the Deputy asked. We now have knowledge from the Central Applications Office, CAO, as to where the extra demand is likely to be. Demand for some courses has gone down, for example, teaching, while demand for journalism has substantially increased. We are trying to match the funding for extra places with demand. That engagement with the education institutions, the HEA, the CAO and my Department will continue throughout April.