Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry South, Independent)
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161. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the reason €25 million, which was removed in 2013 from the Higher Education Authority budget as a once-off reduction, has not been reinstated. [36111/14]

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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A 2012 Comptroller and Auditor General report noted that Universities and Institutes of Technology (IOTs) had cash balances of €706 million at the end of the 2010/11 academic year. When account was taken of restricted reserves and other capital funding requirements, and pension reserves, the cash balance for recurrent purposes was €568 million which also included private sources of income.

Due to the significant cash balances identified, a decision was taken in Budget 2013 to apply a reduction of €25m to the sector so as to ensure a more prudent management of existing cash balances. This funding was not restored in Budget 2014 as it was felt that the Higher Education Institutions still had significant amounts of cash at their disposal.