Professor Diarmuid Hegarty:

I thank the Chairman for giving the Higher Education Colleges Association an opportunity to represent the views of the private colleges on the future of education funding. I attended the proceedings of the committee earlier this morning. It seems quite clear to me this committee and the Oireachtas as a whole face very difficult decisions. There is a real danger of a menagerie where the ostriches with their heads in the sand ignore the elephants in the room. I fear the pressing demands of the electorate may cause history to judge our generation as ostriches. We see our role as putting a spotlight on the elephants in the room. As private institutions, our key message is that we can help and we want to help.

What are the elephants in the room? There are two key ones. First, the committee faces a major challenge in recommending how to meet the coming explosion in student numbers. I really have not heard that stressed in earlier points made in respect of the Cassells committee.

The second major challenge concerns addressing the 20 years of relative failure to improve significantly access to higher education among the disadvantaged. If heads remain in the sand, these problems will reach crisis levels. Both problems have to be addressed with a huge number of additional places, many of which we can provide. We can do this at a much lower cost than the State sector and will not need any capital funding from the Exchequer.

The Cassells group projected a 29% increase in student numbers by the end of the next decade. The Department's latest projections put that between 22.5% at the low end and 34% at the high end. The actual percentage will depend on increases in the number of school leavers going to college and in the numbers of mature and overseas students. In other words, we could need up to 60,000 extra full-time places by the end of the next decade. That would increase higher education enrolment in Ireland up to a record 227,000 places. How can anyone address the question of funding higher education without factoring in an expansion of the scale we know is coming? The future students are already born and at school. How will we fund the extra 60,000 places? One should think for a moment about the consequence of not providing the places. We would be depriving tens of thousands of young people of the right to go to college. It would particularly affect the disadvantaged people in respect of whom much more has to be done to improve access. Free fees have not worked, as shown in the research paper by Dr. Kevin Denny from UCD, quoted in our submission.

Individual institutions are doing what they can to increase access. Let me give an example of a scholarship student on our lower degree programme. She is adapting well to the challenge of self-motivation. She describes college life as a fantastic experience and she is meeting many new people from different backgrounds. She is not entitled to a maintenance grant but is working four days per week and is coping well with this challenge. She is the eldest in a family of ten. She is the first to go to college among her family and close friends. She has been followed by her younger sister and is watched closely by others in her youth project. I am referring to her words, not mine.

We need an overall systemic approach to tackling the issue of disadvantage in higher education. I take issue with Ms Patricia King when she offers us €620 million. If we really want to increase access, that €620 million has to go into first and second levels, where the problem is. It is not a matter of funding. All the research shows it is not a question of funding, it is performance at second level that is determining access to third level.

Another consequence of not dramatically expanding higher education would be a likely skills shortage in an economy due to expand by 34% over the next ten years, according to the ESRI. That is even taking Brexit into account. If the places are not provided, it would act as a drag on multinational investment in Ireland at a time when the advantages of our current tax regime are under threat. Our detailed submission outlines how we can supply many additional places and how we can widen access. I will be happy to answer any questions.