Charlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Minister has so far failed to answer a key question. How can she ensure that when there is a requirement on IOTs to merge that part of their achievements, namely, increasing participation levels within their regions, will not be eroded by the consolidation of courses? It is a real concern of those in the regions and individual institutes of technology. When they see the structure of the Bill and the erosion of local input into their IOTs within the wider merged technological universities, there is inevitable concern that courses will be consolidated away from local campuses and, as a result, there will be a reduction in the participation levels of local students, something into which great inroads have been made in recent years. I ask the Minister to address this issue.

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