Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister. I acknowledge his competence, interest and dynamic approach to third level education and also his new initiatives. I endorse his policy in supporting Dundalk Institute of Technology, DkIT, in becoming a technological university. It is a critical demand for our area. As we know, Dundalk and Drogheda are two large urban conurbations on the Belfast-Dublin corridor, which will be the base for new industry coming here. The technological university proposal makes a lot of sense to us.

Drogheda is a budding city at this stage. How can we ensure there is investment in third level courses in Drogheda, the biggest town in the country? I appreciate the Minister may not be able to respond on my second point as he only has one minute left. I ask him about his concept of integrating the education systems in the North and South by offering opportunities to students from the South to go to the North, even if only for some of their semesters, and, obviously, the converse as well.

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