John O'Mahony (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I do not accept that the Government has made a decision and the Minister of State might clarify this later. We do not need to burden students with debt when they qualify because they will have many other demands at that stage. Having met the USI on numerous occasions, I know students are against it, and we need to take that into consideration. That is the basic point I want to make.

As Senator Maria Byrne said, funding has been increased for the first time since 2009. It needs to be further increased and I would expect it will be increased as a priority, but it needs to be increased in a responsible way. No Government wants to fall into a trap of promising something in a way that cannot be delivered on. These things need to be delivered on but that needs to happen in a structured way. I ask the Minister of State to clarify this point in her later comments.