Paul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Deputy Ó Cathasaigh asked about the inability of technological universities to appoint professors. In the current academic context, there was an OECD report. Is it ready to be published? Does the Minister have a timeline for it? This issue was raised when I visited some of the TUs. I tried to explain that there is an OECD report. The Minister is right in saying there is a journey that report must go on. When will he bring it to Government and what are the steps to be taken after that?

How would we get the technological universities to make the transition? They need to bring their standards right up. I am not saying they have low standards but there have to be specific standards. We will be depending on TUs over the next number years. With the increase in population, there will be many more students looking for places as we encourage more young people to go on to third level education. How will the Government do that?