Click the button below to view the IUA Pre-Budget 2027 Submission
Following the presentation of our Pre-Budget 2027 Submission to Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, James Lawless TD, the Irish Universities Association has today, June 16th, published its proposals for Budget 2027.
Four years after the publication of Funding the Future, a significant higher education funding gap remains. At a time when artificial intelligence, technological change and geopolitical uncertainty are reshaping the global economy, sustained investment in higher education has never been more important.
In Budget 2027, we are calling on Government to honour its commitments under Funding the Future and invest in the skills, research capacity and talent pipeline on which Ireland’s future prosperity depends.
Summary of our priorities:
- An Increase in Core Grant funding of €190.2 million including:
- €131 million as part of a two-year commitment to fully address legacy funding deficits across Funding the Future, government agreed national pay awards and unfunded growth in student enrolments.
- €59.2 million to address known 2027 cost increases relating to pay awards and increased student enrolments.
- A five-year Digital Infrastructure capital investment programme of €250 million.
- A four-year Decarbonisation capital investment programme of €475 million.
- Implementation of the necessary changes to current fiscal rules to allow accumulated surpluses in the National Training Fund to be used to support a multi-annual strategic programme of investment in human capital.
The costs of action are known, targeted and time-bound. The costs of inaction will be far greater.