Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I take the point the Deputy makes and the spirit in which she makes it. I certainly want to work with the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Education, Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science. I assure Deputy Conway-Walsh that the new funding and reform framework will be provided to the Oireachtas committee once the Cabinet has considered the matter. It will be published along with the DG REFORM-sponsored economic assessment report on the sustainability of higher education and the SUSI review. I believe the Deputy will agree there have been many reports on higher education funding in recent years. I do not wish to just publish another report. I am trying not only to publish the economic assessment but to get the Government to make big decisions that will allow for multiannual inclusive processes allowing implementation to commence. I know from engaging with the sector this is what it wants also.

All of us in this House, including me, accept there is a gap to be closed in sustainable funding and core funding. We also all accept there is work to be done on the costs of education. We can debate how best to do this. I want to try to publish the report alongside an implementation process and decisions. This is why I need to brief Cabinet colleagues and make a Cabinet decision. I assure the Deputy that straight after this the next group to be briefed will be the Oireachtas committee. I will work with the Deputy collaboratively on the matter.

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