A DOSE OF REALISM IS NEEDED IN PRE-BUDGET SUBMISSIONS

THE recently uncovered errors in calculated grades for the Leaving Certificate have resulted in 485 students getting improved offers from the CAO. It’s good news for some at a time when there is so much gloom and wrangling over Covid-19. Many of them are already enrolled in college on other courses but now have the option of moving to a different programme. According to Dr Alan Wall, chief executive of the Higher Education Authority, the colleges and the HSE worked hard and with great flexibility to create the places for the students, especially in health-related courses.

But the pandemic is having a huge effect on the colleges beyond this. University College Dublin and NUI Galway have announced that all lectures will be online at least until the end of the year. Students will be on campus only for laboratory or research work. Universities are suffering a substantial fall in revenue from overseas students. They are also facing losses because of the cancellation of conferences and lower usage of on-campus accommodation. Trinity College Dublin no longer has queues of tourists paying in to see the Book of Kells.

Not surprisingly, the Irish Universities Association is looking to next week’s Budget for assistance. The universities will get some help with Covid-related costs but have little chance of getting the €538m in State support they say they need next year.

A dose of realism is needed when it comes to pre-Budget submissions. The seven traditional universities have one-and-a-half times the number of students as the institutes of technology yet have looked for four times the amount of aid.

There are too many other competing demands on the Exchequer to make such claims. These demands will intensify if the Government raises the level of restrictions as the National Public Health Emergency Team (Nphet) has recommended. Putting the State on Level 3 this week means that additional funds have to be found for those workers suddenly laid off.

Public Expenditure and Reform Minister Michael McGrath said yesterday the extra support introduced so far is estimated to have cost €16bn, bringing gross voted expenditure for the year to €86.5bn. This represents an increase of more than €19bn, or 30pc, compared with 2019.

A balance has to be struck between sustaining lives and livelihoods. Further restrictive measures may have to be taken, but not such that will seriously damage the economy that pays for the consequences of those restrictions.

The tensions between Nphet and the Government over how to contain the virus are understandable. But the disclosure on Sunday night that Nphet was recommending jumping to Level 5 was unhelpful, as Taoiseach Micheál Martin said yesterday. He expressed full confidence in his Health Minister Stephen Donnelly who made a statement to the Dáil last night about what exactly chief medical officer Dr Tony Holohan told him over the weekend.

The sooner we get past the “who said what to whom and when” row, the better. We should all be united in fighting the common enemy: Covid-19.

Putting State on Level 3 means additional funds have to be found