John McGuinness (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The final question relates to education. Again, I ask this because Mr. Watt’s officials are present at the meetings. The Higher Education Authority was before us to discuss universities and institutes of technology. Mr. McCarthy’s report dealt with the audit committees in various places. What we heard that day about how the Department oversees the spend in third level institutions and ITs was shocking. Nobody had an idea. The HEA does not have the staff to ensure compliance within the university and institute of technology sector. Governance issues arise in terms of Waterford IT and the Institute of Technology, Cork. Queries arise in terms of the amalgamation process between the institutes of technology in Carlow and Waterford. There is no business plan for that process as it has not been worked out yet. In Cork and Tralee the figure was in the region of €6 million and yet no one was able to set out for us how the money was to be spent, and the structures to deliver compliance, transparency and accountability were simply non-existent in some cases. Would the section in the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform that overlooks the issue have a chat with Mr. Ó Foghlú and Mr. Boland because the system is not working?