Barry Ward (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)

Déanaim comhghairdeas leis na hAirí. Tá aithne agam ar an mbeirt acu agus táim ag tnúth go mór leis an obair atá le déanamh acu agus an seans atá acu chun an obair sin a dhéanamh. Go háirithe, táim ag labhairt faoi smaoineamh an Aire, an Teachta Lawless, iarraidh ar lucht taighde ar fud an domhain, go háirithe dóibh nach bhfuil seans acu obair taighde a dhéanamh ina dtíortha féin, teacht anseo go dtí ár n-ollscoileanna agus ár gcoláistí chun an obair taighde sin a dhéanamh in Éirinn. Is maith an rud é seo dúinne, don gheilleagar agus do mhuintir na n-ollscoileanna.

There is no doubt about the power we have within our third level sector and the opportunity it gives to anybody who comes out of our school system to flourish in a global environment and bring the skills they learned within the sector at whatever level to bear on our economy and our international reputation. People take that opportunity and use it to travel throughout the world, building a reputation for Ireland as much as for themselves individually. As we are part of the European Union, if you go to university in this country, you also have the opportunity to take part in the Erasmus programme, to be a student in another European country, to build contacts, to get cultural experiences and to learn from other university environments. That is of enormous benefit.

I have served on the governing authorities of IADT and UCD. I know how hard people work within our university sector. I also know the level of innovation within it. We need to commit to giving the universities support in that. I also think of the benefits we get, economically and nationally, from universities. A report commissioned by the Irish Universities Association found that an individual undergraduate degree holder will generate a net gain of €62,000 for the Exchequer every year. That is after you take out the cost of educating that person and putting him or her through college. The seven universities in this country contribute €8.9 billion to the Irish economy every year. That is an enormous sum of money. It takes the form of fees from overseas students, research impacts, direct employment and the taxes paid by people who graduate from those universities and who then contribute to our economy at that level.

To think locally, UCD is in the top 1% of ranked higher education institutions worldwide, although that does not mean we cannot do better. When I was in third level, UCD was the ninth biggest town in Ireland by population. It is an enormous institution in its own right. It employs 11,000 people and generates €1.3 billion for Ireland's economy every year.

IADT is just up the road from where I live. It is now the Institute of Art, Design and Technology Dún Laoghaire. When I was growing up it was known as DLIADT. It has now become a global institution. There are Oscar winners who are graduates of IADT. It contributes greatly to Ireland's standing in the design and technology space. It is an international powerhouse in the area of film. My wife is studying screenwriting there at the moment. It gives us great pride that the National Film School is in IADT. The digital media building, which the Minister opened only last week, is also an important part of the campus. This facility contains 19 digital design studios and advanced computer laboratories. It increases IADT's student capacity by 600 and expands programmes in areas such as 3D animation, enterprise and technology. These are areas where we desperately need to increase our innovation.

On the education and training boards, I am lucky to also have Blackrock Further Education Institute in my constituency. It is one of Ireland's larger further education colleges. It provides graduates with professional qualifications in community and emergency care and information technology. People of all ages go to study there. It does not discriminate; it provides opportunities to people coming from all kinds of different backgrounds.

That aspect of equality of opportunity is very important in third level education. We have heard about apprenticeships. When Deputy Simon Harris was Minister in the Department of further education, he did great work to advance opportunities in apprenticeships. We need to continue that and to make sure that, irrespective of the discipline people choose after leaving school, there are pathways for them to get and better and to contribute at an increasingly higher level. The most important thing we can take away from our third level and higher education institutes is what they give to everybody in this country and to everybody who comes here to study by way of opportunities, skills and innovation and the opportunity to take those skills and build on them within this country or abroad because all of it ultimately feeds back into the sector and into our economic success.

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