Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Much of the frustration of students and families is about the lack of transparency and the fact that they have been kept in the dark for a week, much as the Minister disputes that. As I said, the Opposition and the Cabinet were kept in the dark as well. The Minster still has not told us why he did not insist this issue be discussed at Cabinet and that his Cabinet colleagues knew. The other groups kept in the dark were the third level institutions and the Higher Education Authority, HEA. At the start of his answer to my supplementary question earlier, the Minister said the Minister with responsibility for higher education, Deputy Harris, and the Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy Foley, were working on actually sorting out this issue. If the Minster, Deputy Harris, knew on Friday and was sorting it out, then why did the HEA not find out until yesterday?

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