Has the Minister met with the Irish Universities Association regarding gaps in higher education funding?

The short answer is that I have. I engaged with the Irish Universities Association, IUA, as recently as this morning, when I met Paul Johnston, the director general, at an event. I am very aware of the association's asks. It is something that we are working through with it with regard to future funding. There was a commitment through the national training fund to continue to support the core funding allocation for Irish universities. I sat down with the IUA and we reviewed its pre-budget submission, which has a number of worthwhile asks within it. I am continuing to engage with the IUA on a very regular basis, and also with the Technological Universities Association and other stakeholders within the space. I am very much aware of their asks. We have met their funding requirements for the last couple of years through a new framework emerging from, first, the Cassells report and then the Funding the Future study. That funding is now being committed on a multi-annual basis.

The request from the Irish Universities Association is for €250 million over the next five years in capital spending to upgrade digital infrastructure in the seven universities, and €475 million over four years in capital spending to decarbonise universities and create fully sustainable campuses.

We regularly hear about Ireland's ambition to be a global leader in innovation, research and skills. We want to attract investment, develop indigenous enterprise and prepare our workforce for the industries of the future. None of these ambitions can be achieved if our universities are expected to do more each year with increasingly stretched resources. I ask the Minister to continue engaging with them through the budgetary process.

As I mentioned in response to earlier questions, we have a commitment of €4.55 billion to the sector more broadly in the capital envelope available through the national development plan, which is record investment and strong support for research and innovation in the higher and further education ecosystems.

I have taken receipt of the IUA's pre-budget submission. I have to go through it. I understand the challenges the sector faces in terms of decarbonisation, digitalisation, globalisation and demographics, something we often speak about in the House. I am very much engaged in that. It is one among many pre-budget submissions that I have received. I will assess it with my officials. There are a number of competing demands on the system, as the Deputy will be aware. We will be able to appraise ourselves and other Members of the House on exactly where they fall in October's budget.

I want to focus on students. They rightly expect access to modern facilities, smaller class sizes, adequate academic supports and quality learning environments. These expectations become increasingly difficult to meet when institutions are under a sustained financial strain. Ireland has an international reputation for the quality of its higher education system. Protecting that reputation requires investment. It is far more cost-effective to invest now than to allow standards to decline and attempt to rebuild capacity later.

Exactly. That is why we have a record €4.5 billion commitment across the sector. Regarding student facilities, there is the likes of the bundle 2 PPP programme which enhances student facilities on university campuses across the country. I mentioned the targeted enhancement fund, which supports technological universities in their continued growth. The results are coming through. In the last 100 top university rankings, Irish universities were back in the top 100 having fallen out of the list over the past decade or so. We have seen significant progress in terms of international comparators. More fundamentally, student numbers and outputs are growing and many qualifications are being pursued. There are now many diverse pathways through the tertiary education system, including, of course, apprenticeships, which we discussed earlier. It is a success story and we want to make sure it continues to be so. We will continue to invest in and support the sector.