Malcolm Byrne (Fianna Fail)
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Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire. I welcome a lot of the announcements in the budget as well as some additional announcements, including the two new veterinary colleges, one of which will be the south east, which is very welcome, and the appointment of the chief scientific officer. There are a lot of positives. The fact that there is multi-annual funding for the universities now is welcome. The final goal, rather than debating the detail of the figures, is to ensure the full economic cost of providing every programme in the universities is met on an annual basis. I am sure the Minister would agree with me that this has to be the goal we want to achieve.

I will put some questions to the Minister on the detail. Senator Mullen mentioned that there is a €90 million pay gap with regard to funding for the current year and the Minister indicated that he would be bringing forward a supplementary budget.

If that is not done, it will become a problem in 2025. Is it still the Minister’s intention to introduce a supplementary budget?