Professor Brian Norton:

Arising from discussion at our last appearance before the committee, we were asked to provide additional information and clarify some issues that were raised, and we have done so.

Regarding the delivery of DIT programmes in partnership or through third-party providers, this type of delivery is in keeping with national strategy for higher education. Such arrangements represent a very small proportion of DIT provision and are entered into where there is clear student demand and where, for reasons of resources, we cannot deliver the programme in-house. Students registered on such a programme are recognised as full DIT students with access to services, from the medical centre and counselling, to sports, clubs and societies. The DIT commercial modern music degree, delivered through the British and Irish Modern Music Institute Dublin, BIMM Dublin, is an example of such a programme which has run very successfully for five years. The future delivery is currently under public tender.

We also provided further information concerning the library subscription service, Swets UK. This company had been procured through a national public tender in 2012 but went into bankruptcy in 2014. DIT has provided an additional document to the committee that relates to an investigation undertaken by DIT and conducted by an external consultant, Ernst & Young, EY, into the processes that gave rise to the payment by DIT to Swets UK. The issues raised in this report are also addressed in the final management report, which was submitted in July 2016 to this committee. I regret that the EY report was not specifically included. There were press reports this morning in The Irish Times that the report was not provided to this committee, but we have a receipt from the secretariat for the Committee of Public Accounts dating to 31 May 2017 that it was received. I would like that to be in the record for the avoidance of doubt, since there seems to be a public view that it has not been submitted. It has been.