Irish Examiner View: Warning on university funding - who will pay?

It would be a delicious irony if the pandemic forced Government to finally make a decision they have dodged for years with the determination most of us use to try to dodge coronavirus.

Despite report after report recommending one course of action or another, no government has found the courage to take the bull by the horns and decide, finally, how our third-level education system might be funded. Academics have for years warned about falling standards because resources and demand are so out of kilter. Now lecturers have joined the debate and called for an emergency plan for universities which, they say, face “financial ruin” because foreign students may stay away during next academic year.

Of course, the real question is not one for government, it is one for the electorate. Are we prepared to pay more in taxes to fund third-level education — and maybe a one-tier health service — or are we happy to leave that bill for students and their families?

Exactly.