Mary Mitchell O'Connor (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Budget 2018 is a major event for higher education in Ireland. After a really difficult decade, we can now start to address some of the challenges facing the sector. In this budget, we are announcing extra current and capital spending, which I am confident will make a real difference. In parallel, we are committed to making changes in how the higher education sector works and measures its performance.

We are committing an additional €64.5 million in 2018 for further education and training and higher education. Total investment by the Government in further and higher education will be €2.36 billion in 2018. We are determined to deliver a regional spread of investment in higher education infrastructure through a public private partnership programme and a very substantially increased capital allocation.

In visits in recent months I have seen at first hand how infrastructure in institutions needs to be updated to keep our students to the forefront of learning. With the co-operation of the education committee and colleagues in the Oireachtas, I am determined to have the Technological Universities Bill enacted by the end of this year. Technological universities will mark a step change in scale, impact and influence. They will drive regional development and provide more opportunities for students.

The reform of the national training fund, NTF, marks a major step forward in the funding of higher and further education. Budget 2018 will raise the rate of the NTF levy by 0.1% to 0.8% and by a further 0.1% in both 2019 and 2020. The final two increases will be subject to reforms, giving employers a greater role in determining the priorities and direction of the fund. It is my intention to continue constructive dialogue with employer representatives to ensure the closest possible alignment of their needs with our higher education programmes. Working together we can

Budget 2018 also made provision for our rising population numbers. That is why we are providing an additional €22 million in 2018 for 2,100 new student entrants as a result of demographic change. I have met many exceptional people in universities and institutes of technology since I took over this job. I want to help the entire sector take a collective step upwards. That is why we are providing €9.5 million to encourage funding reform. We want to offer incentives for more research in priority areas; we want to recognise and support the regional mission of the institutes of technology.

A new performance and innovation fund will be provided to encourage capacity building and to reward exceptional performances. I am also very pleased to announce funding support for gender equality in the sector. I will announce members of the forthcoming gender task force shortly.

The Government provided €8.5 million for access measures in 2017 and I am pleased that this will be provided again in 2018 along with an additional €4 million. This also complements the €450 million annual provision for access measures including the student grant scheme.

Regarding capital spending, on my visits to universities and institutes of technology there has been one recurring theme, the need to address a decade of under investment. I have been in laboratories that are unchanged since the 1970s. I have seen cladding coming off walls. The Government has decided to increase the capital programme for higher education 2018 to 2021 from €110 million to €367 million, which is an extra €257 million. This will start a significant infrastructure upgrade and replacement programme. It will also support a small number of new-build flagship projects with a focus on achieving leverage. Progress on the next phase of development at the DIT Grangegorman campus will continue. Capital will also be provided for research and to meet the Innovation 2020 targets, particularly the frontier research programme. Final decisions and announcements under the €205 million public private partnership programme are imminent. The projects to be supported will have a broad regional spread. Budget 2018 fully recognises the importance of higher education to our society and economy.

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