Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour) | Oireachtas source

In terms of them moving forward, as the Deputy knows, the assessment was carried out by an international independent panel. It said they were on a clear trajectory to meet the very robust performance and quality criteria set down and was of the view at that stage of the process that they were on the trajectory to reach the final step.

In regard to the financing of the proposals, the institutes were asked at the outset to state how the transition from their current status to their final destination would be financed. The Dublin and the Munster institutes said they would commit to meeting those costs within their budgets. That was part of the initial stage of the process. However, the HEA provided some funding in 2014 to give some support to the institutes involved in the mergers, including the Munster consortium. That was understood at the beginning, that is, that there would be financing involved but that would be paid for by the institutes.

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