Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

Once upon a time, it was considered unthinkable that there would be open access to secondary education. We now look back and see it as monstrous that we would ration or limit the number of places available in secondary education. It is just as irrational and, frankly, lacking in vision to believe that we should still ration or limit access to higher and further education, education which benefits both those who desire access to it and our society as a whole. It is not the case that we have done what we should do with regard to investment in higher education. Some 50% of lecturing staff in this country are on part-time or temporary contracts, including 35% of lecturers. Postgraduate students are living in poverty. The drop-out rate in this country is terrible. One-sixth of all first-year students in higher education drop out. A National University of Ireland, Galway, survey of students in that university found that a third of students suffer from depression because we are not supporting them in accessing higher and further education and allowing them to sustain themselves.

See this speech in context