Some of Ireland’s colleges could face closure if the Government fails to provide more funding, the Irish Universities Association has warned.

The Government allocated €4.15 billion in spending for the Department of Higher Education in last year’s budget – up from €3.9 billion the previous year.

Despite the increase, IUA Director General Jim Miley said the sector is still underfunded due to the impact of inflation.

“Two-years ago the Government, after deliberation for five or six years, agreed that the system is €300 million short - that’s roughly a million euro every day,” he told Newstalk Breakfast. 

“It means that this morning, across the higher education system, students are going into class sizes that are too big. 

“They’re going into labs where the equipment is completely outdated in some cases and while the Government has put in some money over the last two budgets - about €100 million - all of that has been eaten up by cost of living, inflation and pay.” 

Students in Dublin. Image: Mark Henderson / Alamy

As budget negotiations between ministers continue, Mr Miley said the message to the Government from third-level institutions is “you’ve really got to fix this.” 

“We’re hopeful that something may happen in the budget next week but they certainly haven’t been listening enough,” he said. 

“If they want to see how badly this can go wrong, they just have to look across the water to the UK. 

“Government decisions of a decade and a half ago have now left UK universities [in a situation where] where 40%, right now, are in deficit and a number of them are at serious risk of being liquidated.

“Thankfully, we’re not at that stage but we really could go there if action is not taken.”

'What we need to do is invest'

Mr Miley said the sector has suffered a “decade and a half of cutbacks” and the vast majority of spending is on essential services. 

“The biggest cost in universities is staff,” he said. 

“70% of budgets is spent on staff - it’s a people business - and what we know is we’re among the worst countries in Europe in terms of the student staff ratio – it’s 23-to-one in Ireland versus 17-to-one in the EU. 

“So rather than cutting, what we need to do is invest in more staff to give students the education they need and to continue to produce the quality of graduates that this economy needs.” 

Budget 2025 will take place next Tuesday. 

Main image: Graduates toss their academic hats into the sky during a solemn ceremony at the university.Picture by: Alamy.com