Mr. Paul Hannigan:

My name is Mr. Paul Hannigan and I am from Letterkenny Institute of Technology, which has been mentioned a few times. We are one of the vulnerable institutions in the context of the financial situation. Deputy Burton made a point about the impact of institutions within their own regions. All of the institutes of technology, which are located approximately an hour and a half from each other in a necklace around the country, with Athlone in the centre, contribute hugely to the development of their regions. Somebody said that investment in higher education is expensive. Just try the alternative, which is no investment in higher education in those spaces. When one considers the impact of the institutes of technology over the past 40 years, particularly in recent years when everything was sucked back to the centre due the cutbacks during the recession, the only people left standing in the regions were the institutes of technology working with local authorities and bodies of that sort to try to maintain a level of ambition and achievement during the period. What drove the development of the colleges at that time was a moral obligation to the people with whom they worked to ensure that the institutes of technology continued to contribute to that development. That has happened and we have carried it. We have carried it because it is the right thing to do. This is why many of us find ourselves with financial situations with which we need to deal. We were really in a position where we had to stand up and provide the services necessary to deal with the situations where loads of people were losing their jobs and had no alternative but to come back into education to get the opportunity to get other employment, which has happened. Some many people who have come back in during that period have been redeployed as a result. The engagement with industry across the country has been fantastic, particularly that with FDI. A total of 60% of our part-time programmes are industry-based bespoke programmes developed with companies locally to offer opportunities to graduates and those already in employment in those companies.

There is a significant regional development agenda here and if it is ignored, it will become very difficult to get the balance between what is happening in other parts of the country and the larger city locations. It is difficult for us at times to make the argument for investment when one is looking at congestion in Dublin and other matters of that nature, which dominate the media on an ongoing basis. The bottom line is, however, that geography is not a good enough reason to deny people their rights in terms of education. Where somebody is born does not dictate their academic ability.

The sector has delivered significantly in the past 40 years. It has been a privilege to work in it and contribute to that but it has reached a crunch stage where it needs serious investment. Professor Ó Catháin spoke about the stabilisation fund in the context of the report last week to get us back on our feet. We and others put forward proposals in respect of the long-term funding of the sector.