Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Not to pre-empt the outcome of the report, but it is absolutely my intention to publish it, to engage with the Oireachtas on it and, ultimately, to bring proposals to the Government. I want to settle this question. I agree with the Deputy that this has been going on for a very long time. The Taoiseach had a very clear view on the need to attach a centrality of focus to further and higher education. This is why he established this Department, and I am determined we do just that. We have not been standing still since the Cassells report. This Government and the previous one have taken a number of measures to try to increase planned investment in higher education. For example, we are spending 25% more on higher education this year than we did in 2016. That is an amount in the order of an additional €370 million, bringing total funding for the sector this year to €1.87 billion, up from €1.5 billion in 2016.

We need to settle this question. We need the data, the economic evaluation and the debate and then we need to make a decision.

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