Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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58. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills his views on whether there should be a move towards the elimination of all third level education fees in the interest of ensuring accessibility for all to further education (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14272/18]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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As the Deputy will be aware, my Department allocates recurrent funding to the Higher Education Authority (HEA) for direct disbursement to the HEA designated higher education institutions. The HEA allocates this funding as a block grant to the institutions.

However, as autonomous bodies, the internal disbursement of this funding, including the determination of the fee rate applicable for individual students, for example in relation to re-sitting examinations, is a matter for the Governing Authority of each institution.

Higher education is a central part of our plan as a Government to support a strong economy and deliver a fair society.  The Report of the Expert Group on Future Funding (Cassells Report) which was published in July 2016, clearly outlines the funding challenges in the higher education sector and offers a number of potential policy approaches for consideration.

While Cassells deals with the medium and long term funding needs of higher education we also have to consider the immediate challenges.  In advance of receiving the recommendations of the joint committee, the government has moved to increase funding into the sector.  We have therefore prioritised this area in Budgets 2017 and 2018.

As a result, my Department is investing €100m more in higher education in 2018 compared to 2016. Separate to this is the provision which I have made for pay restoration costs in 2018.  We will seek to build on this progress in Budget 2019.

As part of Budget 2018, the Government decided to raise the National Training Fund levy by 0.1% in 2018 to 0.8%, and by a further 0.1% in both 2019 and 2020 (subject to the reform of the NTF to make it more transparent and to afford employers greater opportunity to inform the NTF expenditure priorities). The increase in funding from the National Training Fund is a key strategic element of the overall funding increase for higher and further education.

In addition, in January 2018 I published an independent review of the current allocation model for funding higher education. This review provides a roadmap for transitioning towards a reformed funding model that is more transparent, consistent across higher education institutions, incentivises actions in key strategic areas such as research and STEM provision, and supports improved accountability while also respecting institutional autonomy.

This comprehensive approach is being taken in order to contribute to the development of a long-term sustainable funding model for the sector.  As such, it will be important to build broad political and societal consensus on achieving the most appropriate future funding model and my Department and I continue to work to that end.