Joanna Tuffy (Dublin Mid West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

There is nobody here to represent the IT sector. One criticism I have of the university sector - not all of it but some of it - is that it is not as flexible as the institutes of technology in terms of access. I worked for two years as a clerical officer in the registrations office of the Institute of Technology in Bolton Street and I met people there who went from being an apprentice to doing a night course and going on to do a certificate and diploma. One guy who had moved on to postgraduate study had started as an apprentice in Bolton Street. There were always night classes and the college had a huge amount of flexibility. I would be critical of Trinity College. I went to Trinity College but there is not much change there in terms of the level of part-time education it provides from what was provided when I was there in the 1980s. That is the advantage of ITs. Both sectors do different things and from the socioeconomic perspective, the institutes of technology have an excellent record in flexibility.