Dr. Patrick Prendergast:

Our governing body has not discussed this. The opinion the Senator is hearing is my personal opinion. He referenced the interesting statistic that 60% of the students in the technological universities he mentioned - it is probably similar in SETU - are not paying this €3,000 anyway because it is being paid for them.

It is the 40% from families which end up paying this €3,000 who look to benefit if it is abolished. Is that the best way to spend our money? The SUSI grant that 60% of students get now is not sufficient to live on. It might be better to spend that money on improving the SUSI grant rather than abolishing the student contribution for everybody. That is where I would come down on it if I was expressing a personal opinion. But the governing body of SETU has not discussed it.