Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Taoiseach for taking the matter seriously. I urge him to examine the issue in the current budget. It is one of the issues that is going below the radar in this country, that year-on-year we are eroding the funding to third level institutions. The presidents of those universities are saying loudly, clearly and publicly that something must change. Dr. Hugh Brady has described it as a tipping point. I spoke to the ex-president of one of our biggest universities recently, who described the process of the continued reduction in funding and cuts as the asset stripping of our third level system. We know that universities are pulling back on teaching resources and research and development activities.

I was in a fantastic start-up company this morning in UCD, the NovaUCD centre. What those involved are doing is coating material that will be used on a satellite the European Space Centre will soon send up to explore the sun.

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