Paul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Have the Minister of State, the Minister, Deputy Harris, or their officials had consultations with the Minister for Finance with a view to ending the prohibition on technological universities borrowing in the same way as other universities? Does the Minister of State accept that the current situation unfairly disadvantages technological universities and that there should be a level playing pitch with regard to borrowing? I know technological universities can borrow for accommodation but, other than that, they are prohibited from doing so. We have visited Cork and Limerick, the Minister of State's own constituency, and absolutely fantastic work is being done. This is an issue that consistently came up when speaking to people in the institutes there and in speaking to the presidents of other technological universities. The committee has a module of work on funding for universities and technological universities coming up. We are trying to arrange a date on which the Ministers, Deputies Harris and Donohoe, could come before the committee together to talk about this specific issue. I do not expect the Minister of State to have an answer but I impress upon him the need to progress this matter in his Department for the benefit of the technological universities. That would be very much appreciated. We will have a wider conversation on this issue with the Minister, Deputy Harris, and possibly the Minister of State along with the Minister, Deputy Donohoe.

We are talking about apprenticeships and so on. We were told in Cork that, if the borrowing capacity was available, the number of apprenticeships going through the technological university could be increased. The facilities there date back to the 1970s and 1980s. In fairness, the institution is doing a fantastic job. I give the Minister of State, the Minister, Deputy Harris, and their Department full credit for increasing the number of apprenticeships and making them more appealing to an awful lot of students. In the past, there were students who felt looked down on for doing apprenticeships. That has totally changed. The Department has done a great amount of work on that. However, at the same time, we should be putting the proper level of investment into the institutions as well.