Mary Mitchell O'Connor (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It is two or more in a consortium before we can approve technological university status. That is clearly the Government's policy. We have spoken to many of the institutes. I refer again to critical mass. DIT, Tallaght IT and Blanchardstown IT together have approximately 27,000 students. Further down, it is 13,000 or 14,000. In the case of Athlone IT, there are approximately 5,500 students, which means we do not have that critical mass for a technological university. In any event, there must be two or more institutes merging as part of a consortium before we will approve technological university branding.