ADDITIONAL DEMAND for college places can be met through the existing education budget and better co-operation between the academic institutions, the Taoiseach has told the Dáil.

Brian Cowen said the colleges were working to do that through the Higher Education Authority.

Labour leader Eamon Gilmore had called on the Government to make provision now for extra places after it emerged that a record number of students had applied for college places this year, which is expected to lead to a significant rise in points for some courses.

The Taoiseach confirmed there were 71,222 online applications this year for higher education places, with an increase this year of 14 per cent in the number of mature student applicants.

Mr Gilmore said the “solution is to make the arrangements with the higher education institutions, with the colleges of further education, with the Higher Education Authority, to provide additional places”.

“This is about numbers. We have buildings that are empty in this country. They’ll be going into Nama and they could be put to use. We have people who are available to provide the tutoring and the education. This is an investment. It’s an investment in recovery.”

Mr Cowen told him “there is room for accommodating this increased demand by better co-operation between the various institutions and they’re working at that under the Higher Education Authority as we speak”.

Stressing that the Department of Education had to work within its budget, Mr Cowen said that budgets “are substantial and significant”, some €2 billion this year.

“There is a recognition and shared commitment in the higher education sector of the need to maximise resources that are available.”

Mr Gilmore said his party had repeatedly argued in the Dáil “that the Government needs to provide additional places in higher and further education in order to meet the needs of those who are losing their jobs”.

He said the Government had made a number of announcements in the past year but the numbers involved were very small. “Very simply, you haven’t provided sufficient places in higher and further education to meet the need and demand that is there at the moment.”

The Taoiseach said that “in any given year the eventual number of entrants to higher education is considerably less than the number of initial applicants”. This year the number of online applications for higher education was 71,222 – a ratio of 1.6:1 of applicants to places.

He added that the report on the National Strategy For Higher Education was due in the spring and “that will help us to plan for extra demand”.

Mr Gilmore said “the solution is to provide the places”.

“It’s planning. It’s doing the right thing. It’s not a case of let it all roll on until next September and see how many fall out and don’t meet the grade…we now know that there are far more applicants than places, and there is an opportunity between now and September to increase the number of places. That is good use of public money, that is an investment in our future and will help our prospects for economic recovery.”

Mr Cowen said a commitment had been given by all the higher education institutions “and they’re anxious to accommodate growing participation into the future”.