Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Will the general scheme of the Bill in its current form result in the centralisation of control in the higher education sector? That is a broader question for everybody.

The 1971 Act set out the democratisation of the third level sector as an objective. Is this still relevant today? Does this Bill further this or contradict it? I return to the funding model and the CSO categorisation. In 2018 when EUROSTAT and the CSO revisited the assessment of the control of universities, they came up with the criteria of autonomous institutions under public or private control or market or non-market. The result was that the universities were seen as autonomous institutions under public control and as a market operator. I think we can manage everything that needs to be achieved and still remain off the balance sheet. In 2018 the CSO report clearly states that all fee income, whether that is paid by households or the State on behalf of households, is treated as sales. This would mean that provided a funding model is correctly designed the universities could continue to have full off-State balance sheet borrowing.

Mr. Miley or Dr. Ryan might address that question. The first question is for everyone.