Aideen Hayden (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I agree with Senator Barrett’s concerns about the future of third level education. As a recent graduate of University College Dublin, UCD, I am well aware of what is happening on the front line and in particular of the pressure on academic staff to deliver with less and less resources. We tend to talk in terms of falling unemployment figures and improved fiscal outlooks and so forth, as though the war on austerity was over but it is not over. We are living with the results of austerity, particularly in the third level sector. There is sometimes a lack of sympathy for that sector in the way that there is sympathy for the needs of children. There is no doubt, however, that the way our universities fare is important for inward investment and for how the wider world perceives this country.

I was very disappointed to see all Irish universities, except the National University of Ireland, Galway, NUIG, effectively fall down the rankings, and continue to fall as they have done for the past few years. That includes Trinity College, Dublin. I noticed, however, that the chief executive officer of the Higher Education Authority made a few positive points including, for example, that the student contribution of €250 should remain with the universities and not be effectively removed by the State’s putting less money into third level education. That should be considered. Will the Acting Leader ask the Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy Jan O’Sullivan, to consider that as an immediate response to the crisis in third level education? I would like the report on the funding of third level education to be expedited and put on the table as a matter of urgency. I do not believe the Irish university system can continue to take the hits it has taken over recent years and not slip further in the international rankings.