Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 24 September 2015

Public Accounts Committee

Higher Education Authority: Financial Statements 2014

10:00 am

Mr. Tom Boland:

A number of institutions are in what we would describe as a vulnerable position from a financial point of view. They would be Dundalk, Waterford, which has already been mentioned, and Letterkenny. NCAD is another institution and there are also Tralee and a sixth one, GMIT. They are to varying degrees having difficulties in terms of returning deficits to the HEA.

I would not want to give the impression that any of these are in danger of immediate collapse or anything like that. The HEA works very closely with any institution that is in that position. In the first instance, we require them to present to us and agree with us a three-year plan for how they are going to recover from their financial position. Also, in respect of two institutions, Dundalk and Letterkenny, we have sought independent accountancy financial advice on the strength of those plans. Given the vulnerability of the institution, we want to be satisfied that the plans are good. In the case of Dundalk, we are quite satisfied that its plan is a strong one. In the case of Letterkenny IT, there is an ongoing issue to do with the funding of a facility at Killybegs, which continues to be under discussion, particularly to see how its future might be secured through funding from other sources rather than the education Vote.

More generally, we are in a position to say that we have plans from all of the other institutions in terms of how they are dealing with their deficit situation. Those plans look good and they will be monitored carefully by the HEA to ensure they are implemented and that the institutions are brought back into a positive position.

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