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

I also wish TU4Dublin the very best of luck. To be fair, much collaboration took place beforehand and the expert panel could recognise that. In respect of the future funding of higher education and following on from the Cassells report, the Deputy knows that my Department commenced a programme of reform in the higher education sector. An interdepartmental working group on the future funding of higher education was established to consider this. My Department is progressing a number of different funding priorities in higher education, including reforming the model by which higher education funding is allocated and ensuring additional funding is being tied into the delivery of important national policies, for example, in educational disadvantage, addressing skills gaps or promoting research and innovation. These various requirements will be monitored through the systems performance framework 2018 to 2020 and the strategic dialogue and the performance compact processes will be overseen by the HEA. Last month, we announced a €5 million higher education innovation and transformation fund and ring-fenced that funding for multi-campus institutions.