Ms Annette Dolan:

I will give an example of one of the key changes and the impact of the Technological University Act. First, we have moved from 14 institutes of technology and now have one technological university in Dublin since January 2019 as a result of the merger of IT Tallaght, IT Blanchardstown and the DIT. We have Munster Technological University, MTU, in existence now since January 2021. We have the Technological University of the Shannon coming into being on 1 October 2021. The international panel is down in Carlow and Waterford and hopefully those colleges will receive technological university, TU, status soon. Over next week the international panel is engaging in respect of Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology, GMIT, Institute of Technology Sligo, IT Sligo, and Letterkenny Institute of Technology, LYIT. The technological universities are only beginning to embed and are starting that process. At that very early stage of the process it is unwise to be changing what has been agreed and negotiated because there has been a great deal of negotiation and discussion in transforming from institutes of technology, IOTs, into technological universities.

I will give one example of governance. If the proposals set out in the Bill are to be followed through, that would mean that not all of the campuses for GMIT, IT Sligo and LYIT would have representation from the staff. If one is in Letterkenny, which is way out there, one will feel aggrieved as will the people being represented and the general community because all of the institutes of technology have a broader remit which will continue into the technological universities era. They are serving the business and industry needs of the region and we need that continued representation.