Malcolm Byrne (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Gabhaim buíochas leis an gCathaoirleach Gníomhach and I thank the Minister of State for taking this Commencement matter on behalf of the Minister for further and higher education. The Minister of State is aware that after a long process to determine how higher education funding should be carried out, the Government committed to addressing that deficit through the publication of a document called Funding the Future. That deficit was identified to the sum of €307 million. At the time when this document was published, in June 2022, the then Minister for Education stated in the foreword:

Today, we confirm our commitment to addressing legacy issues in higher education and detail our ambitious plans for investment and reform.

Crucially, we also set out our response to the increasing cost of third level education. Cost cannot and should not be a barrier to accessing education.

Clearly within that document, a sum of €307 million was identified. That was agreed between the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science and the then Department of Public Expenditure and Reform. While that €307 million was to address core funding, that amount identified two years ago did not take into account any potential increase because of a rise in student numbers. It did not take into account pension costs and it did not take into account any sums of money made available under pay agreements. The €307 million was a base and there obviously were additional costs. I do appreciate that, as we continue to expand the numbers in higher education, the Government is committed to looking at meeting the full economic cost for all additional places. However, as the Minister of State will be aware, one of the difficulties is that under national pay agreements that have been honoured by our universities and the higher education system, the €100 million that has been provided over the last two budgets in core funding essentially has been gobbled up by the €90 million plus that has had to be set aside for the agreed pay awards.

It is right that the universities honour the pay agreements that are agreed by the Government with the wider public service but it means that we have not made any progress on that €307 million core funding issue that was identified two years ago. Once again, we are not taking inflation into account. The Minister of State will be aware of the fact that the public has seen significant cost-of-living increases and that applies as much to the higher education sector as to any other. The Government has rightly laid great emphasis on - and the Minister of State is aware that our party, in setting up this Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science made clear the importance of - further and higher education to our society and the economy. There is a problem of rhetoric not being matched by the reality. Addressing the core funding has been identified as a key priority for this budget by all of the stakeholders including the Irish Universities Association, the Union of Students in Ireland and all those involved in higher education.My real concern, and I hope the Minister of State, Deputy Byrne, will give us some answers today, is that Funding the Future is not being forgotten about as the baseline we set out as a Government to address this crisis.