Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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I very much appreciate the work the Deputy is doing in respect of equity of access and I agree that through her work and that of my officials we have tried to strengthen equity of access provision throughout the Bill. This section, however, relates to the private colleges. We had a debate on this earlier in terms of private versus public and the likes. The way we pursue access to education is through the publicly funded higher education sector or where we provide specific funding to a private or not-for-profit college for a specific purpose, we attach conditions of funding. That is how we try to highlight priorities, be they access, participation or course completion, considering we do not fund these institutions, I do not have a direct policy lever. For example, I will bring forward a national access plan and the Deputy and I will debate its merits and demerits but it relates to trying to ensure people get through the public education system. For those reasons, I am not in a position to accept the amendment.