Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister. The truth is that it is nothing short of remarkable that, aside from the Cassells report in recent times, there is very little there from the Minister's Department in terms of third level. The Minister mentioned the Hunt report and the strategy subsequent to it in 2013. The truth is we are in a completely different space. Our institutes of technology are on the record now as never having been under so much pressure. They are in severe crisis mode. Our universities are dropping down the rankings, which have great importance.

The Action Plan for Education that the Minister published for his Department has little or nothing about third level education in it. It is a shocking gap. The Minister has put out a consultation for a new plan for 2017. He Minister should rewrite the existing plan to account for the shocking gap that somehow happened when this report was published. In the entirety of the action plan, there are two lines devoted to both the crisis in higher level funding and the Cassells report. The Cassells report is not simply about the choices. The choices are listed there. We are debating them in the Joint Committee on Education and Skills and I look forward to the Minister's view when his party comes to a decision. My party is having similar discussions at the moment. The truth is there is a lot more in the Cassells report. There is the immediate funding gap. What was said to us about the Cassells report only last week at the committee was that part of the issue with rankings is that the Government needs to be seen to be behind the third level sector. It seems to be the case that the perception is the Government is not supporting the third level sector. What can the Minister do to counteract that?

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