Batt O'Keeffe (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)

Given the current economic climate, it was not possible to provide an increase in current funding for the sector in 2008. However, the current level of funding must be seen in the context of the substantial increases in funding for the third level sector in recent years, whereby the overall provision to the sector, including capital provision, has increased to some €2 billion in 2008. This is an increase of 33% in the last four years and an increase of 135% since 1997.

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