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

As the Deputy knows, in the last budget we expanded the Exchequer provision by €50 million. We also provided an additional €50 million from the National Training Fund, and in future years we will increase the fund, trebling that amount over the next three years. In addition, the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform has provided a trebling of our capital budget for higher education over the next four years and, in the context of the longer ten-year period, has provided €2.2 billion, compared with a €100 million provision for a four-year period that was there before that. Therefore, very substantial increased investment is being provided in the higher and further education area.

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