Niall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail)
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A key priority in the programme for Government is the creation and progression of technological universities. I am pleased, therefore, to introduce the following draft order to this committee - the Technological Universities Act 2018 (Section 36) (Appointed Day) Order 2022. Under the Technological Universities Act 2018, an appointed day for the establishment of a technological university, TU, and its name in both English and Irish shall be made by order. The order must be approved by resolution of each House of the Oireachtas. I thank the committee for this opportunity to discuss the matter today in committee. I wish to set 1 April 2022 as the appointed day for the establishment of the new technological university to be known as Atlantic Technological University in the English language and Ollscoil Teicneolaíochta an Atlantaigh in the Irish language and for the dissolution of Galway-Mayo, Sligo and Letterkenny institutes of technology.

The establishment of a fourth technological university in the State is another important milestone for higher education in Ireland, in particular for the west and north west regions. The new TU will provide a multi-campus university presence across the region encompassing eight locations in Castlebar, Galway city, Killybegs, Letterfrack, Letterkenny, Mountbellew and Sligo.

This new technological university will increase higher education access, drive enhanced regional development and increase opportunities for students, staff, business and enterprise, as well as local communities. The new higher education institution of increased scale and reach will benefit students and communities right across Connacht and Ulster. I very much look forward to this new TU bringing those benefits to people in the region, from its most westerly point to its most northerly, and all points between including in counties Cavan, Leitrim, Monaghan and Roscommon. The new TU will now take its rightful place in the higher education landscape in an important strategic part of the country, bordering as it will both the Atlantic and Northern Ireland. Its establishment will allow people in the furthest-flung corner of the island obtain, through digital connectivity, a university degree in their home places. I am delighted to see this milestone being reached and I want to congratulate all involved.

The Government has a clear ambition to create a series of interlinked higher education institutions of greater capacity and reach across all regions of the country in order to help deliver on key national strategic objectives. TUs are a key component in this strategic approach. They provide increased reach, international recognition, greater research capacity, foreign direct investment, FDI, attraction, skills retention and creation, regional development, enhanced staff and student experiences and opportunities and advanced socioeconomic progression.

From April, the new Atlantic Technological University will start its journey and drive the agendas of higher education access, excellence in teaching and learning, regional development, research-informed educational provision and strengthened linkages with industry and the community.

We all want to ensure prosperity for this generation, which is so affected already by the Covid-19 phenomenon, and for future generations. We want to ensure they have the foundational skill sets and qualifications to compete and succeed in a hugely altering and highly competitive world. I thank all concerned, including the staff and students of the Institute of Technology Sligo, IT Sligo, Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology, GMIT and Letterkenny Institute of Technology, LYIT, a wide variety of stakeholders in the west and north west, the international advisory panel, the Higher Education Authority, HEA, the Qualifications and Quality Assurance Authority of Ireland, QQI, and the Department. All the aforementioned bodies and people played a key role, statutory and non-statutory, in getting the fledgling new university to this point of establishment. I also thank Deputies and Senators for their kind attention today and thank all Members across the Oireachtas for their steadfast support for this hugely important higher education project.