Tommy Broughan (Dublin Bay North, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Early intervention is clearly critical on the accessibility side to encourage deprived families to be able to support children towards third level education. Is the Minister aware of the programme that is piloted in our own constituency, the Preparing for Life programme of Northside Partnership, which revealed huge developments for children in our constituency when additional interventions occur? I wonder if that is something the Minister could expand on a national basis.

The impact of the austerity policies of the last Government and the previous Fianna Fáil-led Government on the third level sector has been deplorable. Is it not a fact that if one was to look at league tables of universities, our third level institutions seem to be tumbling down them? Trinity College Dublin is something like 75th and my own alma mater, UCD, is down to 150th. Is that not a direct result of what the Minister's Government and the previous Government did to our third level sector?

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