Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Last week's web summit demonstrated the huge opportunities for Ireland in digital technology. It is very important for our economic recovery and future prosperity that we are a global leader in technology and, critically, are recognised as such internationally. Unfortunately, a very important piece of Government policy is putting this at risk - the continued reduction in funding to third level institutions such as colleges and universities. As the Taoiseach knows, Government funding this year for third level institutions will fall by €25 million. We all welcome the creation of new jobs such as those announced at the summit, but if we want to see these announcements continue, we must start to have a very honest conversation about what is happening in the education sector. In the same week as the web summit the OECD released a report on adult education in Ireland and what it indicates should be taken very seriously. Among 24 assessed countries, in the literacy section we came 17th; more worryingly for the future of the technology sector in Ireland, in the section on numeracy we were ranked 19th. Three years ago we had two universities ranked in the top 100 in the world, but now we have none. The one university which managed to move up the rankings this year, UCD, got to 161st place and its president, Dr. Hugh Brady, stated in the Irish Independent:

A tipping point has been reached. The State must now either choose to empower its higher education institutions to compete with the world's best or continue to pursue a policy of central "command and control" and underfunding.

I am not sure people understand the extent of the underfunding. If one tracks State funding per student in our third level institutions, between 2008 and what is projected in 2015 under the Government's plan, the level of funding will halve. No country can aspire-----

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