Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)

Coming from south Ulster I am anxious that we drive forward the North-South agenda to a greater degree. Significant numbers of students from Cavan and Monaghan go to colleges in the North, with students from the Six Counties moving in the other direction as well. There is potential to drive that type of cross-Border facilitation forward. Dundalk Institute of Technology has made a huge effort to provide access to young people from disadvantaged homes and less well-off backgrounds, with the percentage of students coming from families in which they are the first to proceed to third level being particularly high. It would be extremely bad for our education system if Dundalk Institute of Technology were to be left out on a limb and unable to maximise its potential.

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