Niall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Previous to the budget, the Cabinet and Government took a decision that basically the market needed a Government intervention. The Acting Chair will be aware of that. That policy decision has been taken and it is welcome. Our Department last year provided €61 million to intervene across four higher education institutions to provide about 1,000 beds - DCU, Maynooth, the University of Limerick and the University of Galway. DCU and Maynooth are pretty advanced. UL and the University of Galway are not advanced to where we would all like to see them, but there is a process that has to be followed.

In parallel with that, work is going on with the sector, particularly the new TU sector, to devise a strategy. Some €1 million was provided to support the exercise to give us a proper strategy given the fact that we have now established the new technological university landscape. They are all multicampus organisations now with a presence in most counties across Ireland. They are diverse and dynamic in their offering and demands. We need to get proper value for money and a proper picture, given where our demographics are going and the strategic direction within which our technological universities going, as to what will be their demand. That is a process that is being worked through. We do not want to just throw money here, there and everywhere across the sector. We need a co-ordinated, strategic approach to it.