Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I completely agree with writing to the university and to the president of the college, which would be appropriate, but there is another view on this because the students are not at all happy with how the thing has been portrayed. I may well talk to them, as the Chairman may also do. A key condition attached to the 1999 levy referendum was that if any of the conditions were broken, the referendum would be deemed null and void, so they were being very clear about what was expected and that was set out. I completely understand about the hyperinflation and I believe this project has gone something like 50% over what was originally tendered. We need to understand that. To go back to the 1990s, there was a €40 per student fee at that time and that went up to €150 in 2015. That was to be discontinued when the facilities were in place but none of the facilities that were supposed to be in place have been provided. That is why there is such frustration that the money was collected but the services have not been delivered. There is a wider issue and I believe we should be looking at this when we are looking at the universities and, in particular, where there are additional charges, how they are handled and what is delivered from them. There cannot be a university without students.