Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I agree with the Chairman. Where we have centres of educational excellence, for whatever reason, we should celebrate them and not try to squeeze them back into the box from which they came. That does not make sense. It is part and parcel of why the higher education strategy referred to regional clusters of education.

Ballyfermot is unique because 60% of the courses it offers are in the area of what could be more properly described as higher education. We are trying to get a seamless connection between higher and further education because they are ultimately related to qualification levels under Quality and Qualifications Ireland, QQI. It will be something we will explore with it.

Quite frankly, the fear is that if specific recognition is given to one college of further education, for whatever good reason, the door will be opened to all sorts of other colleges of education throughout the country who will seek the same. That was the answer I got when I was in opposition. We have to look at ways in which we can capture the excellence in Ballyfermot without having a knock-on effect for colleges which do not have the same level of excellence.