Catherine Martin (Dublin Rathdown, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the creation of the Technological University Dublin, TU4Dublin. It is heartening to read in the international advisory panel's report how positive the current collaboration between DIT, Institute of Technology Blanchardstown and Institute of Technology Tallaght is. I congratulate everyone who has worked on this project at all three institutions as well as the TU4Dublin programme lead on their work. I wish the students and staff members the very best of luck in 2019 in what is an exciting new chapter for higher education in Dublin and Ireland.

I have one comment about some issues raised in the advisory group panel's report, particularly the possibility of unexpected expenditure after the merger, which I believe was raised by the HEA when recommending this report. Can the Minister of State outline how she intends to ensure that unexpected but necessary funding for TU4Dublin during this phase will not come at the expense of other higher education needs? This is particularly important in the context of a higher education system that is seriously struggling and needs a huge influx of new investment to meet demographic demand.