Jerry Buttimer (Fine Gael)

It is important that the brand name of NUI is restored.

The Minister of State outlined the importance of third level in terms of enabling people to reach their full potential as individuals. He is dead right. I do not disagree with him. What has the Government done? It has made cutbacks to third level education. No attempt has been made to tackle under-funding and under-resourcing of third level education. A ban on recruitment to the public service has reduced staffing levels in third level institutions. Later, we will discuss youth unemployment. Let us consider in particular the number of young men under the age of 30 who are unemployed. That is a damning indictment of Government and an indication of its lack of vision. There has been a jump of 50% in the number of people applying to attend third level colleges in the United Kingdom because they cannot get a place on courses in this country. I asked a third level graduate how he would describe his experience. He stated, "The system is shocking, there is shortened library hours, there is a cutback in facilities, there is a cutback in choices being offered and there is no guidance or help being offered to us." This young student paid a fee of €1,500 to his university. There is a lack of job opportunities and a demand for higher qualifications to educate a modern workforce which has caused the number of CAO applications to increase by 5% to more than 71,000.