Dee Ryan (Fianna Fail)

I want to raise some queries from an institutional perspective. I know the Minister has been having great engagement around the country with the various stakeholders. I was delighted to welcome the Minister to Limerick and for us to visit the hospitality campus at the ETB centre in Roxborough and the University of Limerick for the launch of its immersive bioscience course. On both occasions, the Minister had an opportunity to engage with the leaders, Bernadette Enright and Paul Patton at the ETB, and at the University of Limerick, acting president, Professor Shane Kilcommins, and the executive committee. I want to reflect back to the Minister some of the common themes that came up on those engagements and that have come to me from councillors throughout the country. There are concerns at ETBs, universities and TUs around multi-annual funding and the challenges in planning on an annual basis and the desire to move, where possible, to multi-annual funding. This would give educational institutions more certainty regarding the courses they run and the staff they are able engage.

From the TU perspective, the matter of TU borrowing is coming up not just in Limerick but around the country. I know the Minister is putting great focus on the TUs and has work done on the TU professorships but this aspect of borrowing is coming up repeatedly. I would like to hear the Minister's thoughts on those points.