Ms Br?d Horan:

Deputy Conway Walsh has made a very valid point but it brings us back to the overall State funding of higher education. I will give the committee just a few numbers. Excluding research, the public expenditure on higher education in Ireland is .6% of GDP. The OECD average is 1%. That is the State input into it. In the absence of that level of State funding then it is understandable that our fees are going to be higher. This is a three-legged stool.