Dodging the hard funding decisions

One of the ground rules of cute-hoor Ireland is that “if you must say something, say nothing.” In Kerry there is a regional variation: “I can talk all day and say nothing.”

A combination of those kick-the-cans has been adopted by all politicians faced with the thorny decision on how we might fund third-level education. An overdue Government decision has been pushed beyond the horizon again.

The current administration may have avoided the hard decision, one that will outrage one constituency or another. Conflict has been avoided — as have the responsibilities of leadership.

Education Minister Richard Bruton told the Oireachtas education committee a review it sought six months ago would not begin until early next year at the soonest.

The group sought details on how funding options presented in a report published by Mr Bruton two years ago would affect stakeholders.

Unfortunately, while politicians pass the hard-decisions parcel, our third-level institutions struggle tosustain relevance. In a budget submission, the Universities’ Association said Budget 2019 should be used to “urgently address the underlying quality issues arising from a decade of underfunding as well as... the significant growth in student numbers”. It says an extra €234m is urgently needed.

Saying nothing is one thing, but doing nothing is, in this instance, unacceptable. It’s long past time to bite the bullet on third-level funding.