James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)

I thank the Cathaoirleach for her indulgence. I know she is a great supporter of the project.

Dundalk IT and Queen's University have entered into an agreement to advance a partnership whereby Dundalk IT would become a university college of Queen's, Belfast. That is a really positive development. I am very supportive of it. I brought it to Cabinet yesterday myself. At the same time as we deliberated in the Government, the boards of Queen's and of Dundalk IT were also in session. We had three parallel meetings and the outcome on all sides was positive and affirming of it. That will advance now to a more detailed engagement. There are a number of items to be worked through in terms of admissions, governance, funding and regulation. None are insurmountable; they are all matters that we will work through. It is likely I will be required to bring legislation before the Houses to advance this proposal because it is novel. It is the first ever all-Ireland university. That is seismic and symbolic in itself. It also advances education provision in the north east, on the Dublin-Belfast corridor and indeed in the north east more generally, because it provides for the first time a fully fledged university in Dundalk and in the wider area. Graduates of Dundalk IT will now be graduates of Queen's. They will have full university degrees. They will have access to all the wider research infrastructure and wider facilities that Queen's has to offer. Queen's is a very strong university. It is in the top 200 globally. It is very significant in respect of everything from medical centres to climate research to engineering and it brings that to the table. Dundalk IT of course has a very strong, well-earned and deserved reputation. It of course will be an equal part of this partnership. It is not a parent-child arrangement. It is actually a parity of esteem undertaking.

I just wanted to update members of the committee on that. There will be work to do over the next 12 months and I will come back to the committee with legislation and further updates. I certainly am very positive on it and excited about it. It is a really important dimension as part of our shared island but also as part of our educational provision. I thank the committee for the opportunity to mention that.