Marie Louise O'Donnell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

Thank you. I ask the Leader to invite the Minister for Education and Skills to the House to give Senators a heads up on the Peter Cassells' report. I found the report somewhat fascinating. After two years they could come up with only three elements of how third level education could be funded. This is extraordinary: either keep the current fee system and raise the fees, abolish the fees or have loans. The idea of asking students for loans and the way the banks have treated graduates and undergraduates in this country is absolutely outrageous. You could not write it down. Banks are rocking up to the university campuses, setting up stalls on students' day, asking students and their parents, in the safety of the university environment, to take out loans and then when the students qualify the interest is raised on these loans. It is outrageous and it beggars the best of them for the next 25 years. I could not understand why there has been no in-depth analysis on proper means testing of third level education.