Ivana Bacik (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I remind all Members that this evening we have our Labour Private Members' motion on equal access to education. I thank those who came to the briefing we hosted yesterday in the AV room with a number of speakers in support of the motion, including Professor Kathleen Lynch from University College Dublin, UCD, and representatives from the Union of Students in Ireland, USI, and the Services, Industrial, Professional and Technical Union, SIPTU, and the Coalition for Publicly Funded Higher Education. Recall that the Cassells report on the future funding of third level education, which was published last year, recommended three options. Income-contingent loans was only one of those options. Another option which we would support is the option of a fully publicly-funded third level education system.

We are very disappointed to see amendments put down by Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil that appear to leave the door open to the loans option, which is our concern, and which has been so clearly criticised on the basis of evidence from elsewhere by USI, SIPTU, leading academics and others. We ask colleagues to support our motion this evening and reject the amendments. We are very disappointed to see those amendments. Professor Lynch spoke before about third level education and the concept of a publicly-funded third level education system as being as crucial to our society in the 21st century as publicly-funded secondary education was in the 20th century and publicly-funded primary education was in the 19th century. I ask Members to recall that and I thank those who will be supporting the motion.

I ask the Leader for a debate on the summer economic statement. I know it will be published today and that there has been a good deal of discussion about it already. It appears to be a missed opportunity for greater investment in capital infrastructure and, in particular, in housing infrastructure - I know others have spoken on that already - and on health, transport and education.

Finally, we ask for the Minister, Deputy Shane Ross, to come into this House to clarify his comments about the Olympics. I understand that he is basking in the success of a Rugby World Cup potentially being held here, but I think we might all be concerned and do not want to see a stadium in Stepaside. A Garda station is probably enough.