Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Thursday, 23 November 2023
Public Accounts Committee
Appropriation Accounts 2022
Vote 45 - Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science
Financial Statements 2022: National Training Fund
Report on the Accounts of the Public Services 2022
Chapter 19: National Training Fund
9:30 am
Mr. Paul Lemass:
Absolutely. The short-term activation scheme was essentially an immediate response to ask any HEI with a ready-to-go site with planning permission, or a ready-to-go site with planning permission that it would like to acquire, to talk to us about it. The Minister engaged with the HEIs, including the TUs, on this in 2022 and 2023. In November 2022, we brought a memo to the Government to get approval for the State to start getting involved in funding. The projects the Chair mentioned were part of that.
Specifically on the four projects listed, those at DCU and Maynooth are at an advanced stage, and we hope to go to tender on both of them quite soon.
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