Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The total number of postgraduate students is 37,000, made up of approximately 22,500 full-time and just over 15,000 part-time. That figure has grown by 8% since 2010-11.

I recognise the importance of postgraduate study. It has been influential in the significant role played by Springboard in recent years where a postgraduate option to allow people retrain has been very successful: its participation has been up to 9,000 per year. Not all of those would be classified as postgraduate in the traditional sense, but there have been a number of investments in this area. I recognise the need to invest in this area and to start that process of supporting students to a better level who want to do postgraduate study. It is part of the programme for Government. I know many other Members share the Deputy's ambition with regard to this issue. It is an area we will have to address over time with resources as they become available.

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