Tackling pay funding gap ‘can bring down Irish class sizes’
Government urged to address shortfall in funding for Irish universities ‘immediately’ amid high staff-student ratios.
Emily Dixon, writing in Times Higher Education, reports that Irish universities have called on the government to urgently address a staff pay funding shortfall exceeding €70 million (£61 million) in the 2026 budget. The institutions warn that implementing a multi-year plan to close this gap would impose “significant financial challenges.”
The article cites Michael Casey, Director of Finance and Operations at the Irish Universities Association (IUA), who explains that universities “have been left significantly short on an annual basis” since 2022, after the government failed to compensate them for centrally determined pay increases for university staff.