Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)

The intention is to publish the legislation during this session so I hope it will be enacted next year. I also hope to do the transfer next year so the institutes of technology come under the HEA. The period of office of most of the membership of that board will expire at the end of this month, but under the new legislation it will have to be reformed. It is my intention to ensure that the new appointments will reflect some of the needs of the institutes of technology to prepare them for full membership status.

In the immediate future, it will still probably be called a higher education authority because that it what it is. The real benefit for the institutes is that they will get away from the firm hand of the Department and will have more flexibility in their governance and management. To be fair to them, the institutes are ready for that and I think it will work well. At the same time, we are requesting all the institutes and universities to collaborate on restructuring and reforming. We want to create institutes and universities that are recognised as being world class. The best way we can do that is not by duplicating their work but by ensuring that they can maximise the best of their talents and expertise. All that can come about by having them under the one authority.

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