Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome everybody back and I am delighted to see that it is all systems go for this Dáil session. It is less than two weeks to budget day and there are many issues that need to be addressed. I put it to the Taoiseach that it is essential that there be a realistic response to the Peter Cassells report on the chronic underfunding of third level education and the perilous state of institutes of technology and universities from a funding perspective as we try to prepare the country for the future in attracting investment and producing quality graduates in the years ahead.

Core expenditure for each university student is down by 22% since 2011. The student-lecturer ratio has worsened dramatically from 1:15 to close to 1:20, which compares to an average of 1:14 across the OECD. Irish universities are declining in world rankings. Some institutes of technology are very close to trading insolvently and others are in dire financial straits and will need funding to keep them afloat. There has been little or no capital investment in third level institutions for some time. In a recent letter to the Taoiseach, which was signed by all university presidents, attention was drawn to the urgency of providing €30 million to €40 million for basic health and safety equipment in universities.

Apart from that, we clearly have more medium-term capital investment projects that will be required in both the institutes of technology and the universities. Investment in education is central to our economic future. It underpins it and is the key differentiator between this country and other countries in terms of both attracting inward investment and developing indigenous companies to produce our own world class products and solutions for the world at large.

There are three clear options in the Cassells report. All options include a significant element of State funding. The first option is almost completely State funded. Option two is also State funded, with the existing student contribution remaining, and a contribution from employers through the programme for research in third level institutions, PRTLI, international training fund. The third option is State funding along with a student loan system and deferred payment of fees. My personal view is that option two offers an immediate opportunity to respond. I put it to the Taoiseach very simply that this cannot be kicked down the road. This is something we must face up to in this budget because more than €600 million has been sought by the universities and the institutes of technology in the next five years. It is imperative that we make a realistic response to that in this budget, of the order of €100 million plus, to cover both strata at third level. I would appreciate if the Taoiseach will indicate whether he endorses and agrees with the Cassells report and whether the Government is prepared to respond in a realistic way to it in the forthcoming budget.

See this speech in context