MINISTER FOR Education Mary Hanafin has accused two university heads of misleading the public about Government support for the third-level sector.
In an article in The Irish Timeslast month, the president of UCD, Dr Hugh Brady, and the Trinity provost, Dr John Hegarty, pointed to the "major funding deficit" facing Irish universities in com-parison with international competitors.
Core funding per student had been reduced by over 33 per cent since 1995, they said.
But yesterday, Ms Hanafin told the Oireachtas Education Committee that these figures had failed to include Government funds given to colleges in lieu of fees, amounting to €326 million in 2007.
Last night, the Department of Education said university spending, including support in lieu of fees, had increased by 151 per cent since 1997.
In recent years, funding allocated to the university sector has increased from €675 million in 2005 to €836 million in 2008, an increase of some 24 per cent since 2005.
Last night, a spokesman for the Irish University Association, the group representing the seven university presidents, said the substantial deficits in the university sector highlighted the funding problems facing the sector.
He said: "Funding provided through the grant in lieu of fees does not offset the cycle of reductions in the core grant per student over the last number of years.
"There is a widening gap between Government's ambitions for higher education and the day-to-day reality facing universities. We need the Minister and her department to engage constructively with us in addressing these problems before the situation deteriorates even further."
The Minister's comments yesterday were the second time she has taken issue with the article by university presidents.
In the Dáil last week she also questioned the figures cited in the article, although, under questioning from Labour's Ruairí Quinn, she stopped short of accusing the presidents of making misleading statements.
It is understood a majority of the seven universities now operate with a substantial budget deficit, totalling more than €25 million this year. This is expected to deteriorate further next year.
