Mr. Tony Donohoe:

We are looking at a 50% reduction per student in funding. The argument could have been made, though some of us would not have agreed, that after the financial crisis there were cutbacks and we made do with less. I spent many years saying we were at the tipping point in terms of quality impact. We are well beyond that tipping point now. I do not think we can afford to regress further. If that political decision is made, which would be short-sighted, that money has to be found somewhere else. When it comes to the competing demands for the public purse, higher education is not always at the table. It is a harder point to make.