Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

An exception was made. It must be remembered that it was a part-time course and that funding would not normally be provided in such circumstances. The Deputy referred to a particular institution, but there are any number of institutions throughout the State which could, subject to their internal criteria, subsume the course on a full-time basis. I do not know how the Department could intervene in that matter. In fact, I do not believe there is a mechanism to allow it to do so. It was a result of the EGF and the specific circumstances relating to SR Technics that an intervention was made in this instance, and there is no doubting the positive impact of that intervention. If that were the case, one could set a precedent in respect of any number of other courses which could be brought through the Department to be delivered out into specific institutions.

However, we must recognise the autonomy of individual institutions.

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