Mary O'Rourke (Fianna Fail)

Otherwise, the Department of Finance will hoover up the money left in the budget allocation. It is clear to the Minister that programmes which are not fully utilised will be continued in 2003.

There has been much discussion about third level fees. Many of the people who spoke here today and many people outside the House know there is a need to evaluate what third level education gives to those who avail of it. The Minister said there is a need for him to look at the total expenditure for third level education and to see how that money can be put to best use to allow more people access to third level education. I cannot see how anyone could quibble with that worthy aim. We all want more people to enter third level education.

The Minister of State has responsibility for literacy and adult education. We all want people who are currently disadvantaged to get the best opportunity in education. I heard Senator Terry speak with great feeling about her constituency. We could all trot out a list of schools, teachers and classes which would benefit from education programmes.

A large sum of money is being spent on third level education. One has only to look at the growth of institutes of technology and universities around the country. There was a 17% increase in the past five years in the level of access to third level education. There is not an infinite amount of money for everything one wants in education. However, we need good teachers. Expenditure on teacher allocations and programmes has increased dramatically over the past seven or eight years. We should not lose our sense of realism. There has been a huge increase in the budget for the Department of Education and Science for programmes for 2002. The increase is approximately 14% in general, but it is more in the Department of Education and Science. That increase will be spent. However, we must be realistic. We must ask ourselves if we can continue to increase it.