Marc Ó Cathasaigh (Waterford, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister and his officials for being here this evening. It is always a very useful session. I have six points that I want to touch on and a limited amount of time to do so. I will get straight to it.

I wish to refer to the number one issue that is raised with me by the technological universities in particular. As the Minister knows, Waterford Institute of Technology operated as a de facto university for the south east for many a long year. It operated against considerable headwinds, particularly in terms of research capacity. Now not just SETU, but all of the TUs, have been asking for professorial grades. It is a pivotal issue if we want them to function as centres of innovation and research. I believe the issue lies between the Minister and the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform. Could he tell me where this is and if he shares my view that it is essential that we get this grade if we want TUs to operate in the way we would all like them to do.