Ann Ormonde (Fianna Fail)

I also welcome the Minister to the House and acknowledge her interest and feel for this subject. The Institutes of Technology Bill 2006 is one of the most important pieces of education legislation to be brought before the House in recent times. It is a timely, forward-looking and progressive Bill. It reflects and recognises the environment in which higher education organisations are required to work. It recognises the challenges that lie ahead and must be supported to allow each institute to develop to its full potential.

It should be added that this legislation reflects exceptionally well on the institutes and their record of achievement since their inception over three decades ago. When they were first initiated in the 1970s they were run as a tight ship and were vocational in nature. Their links were with the vocational system and the framework in which they were governed was tightly controlled and centrally administered. The institutes were limited and did not have the flexibility to expand as they wanted.

Today the institutes are a success story. They have come a long way since they first opened their doors in the 1970s. Initially their brief was to educate for trade and industry over a broad spectrum of occupations from craft to professional level. From the time of their enactment in 1992, the number of regional technical colleges has increased from 11 to 13. At the same time the Dublin Institute of Technology was established. I remember when the Dublin Institute of Technology opened its doors through the six colleges, each with a specialist field. Bolton Street specialised in engineering, Cathal Brugha Street in catering, Kevin Street in science and Mountjoy Square in commerce and business. This is an example of how DIT has come into its own and the 13 regional colleges have expanded likewise to reflect today's facilities.

I congratulate the institutes and the DIT for opening their doors to allow students from all backgrounds to access third level education, particularly those from backgrounds that would not understand what third level education is. The VEC's insistence created the link with the institutes and facilitated the flow of students into third level. These students can move from certificate courses to diploma and degree courses and then to fourth level, postgraduate courses. I call it the scenic route. This is a significant achievement. I am glad the Bill allows the institutes to develop in such a way. Removing this binary system and bringing higher education under one umbrella is a great step forward. It gets rid of the distinction between the institutes which deal with trade and development and the academic orientation of the universities. This process must be further developed using the Higher Education Authority as the main management structure.

I also welcome the new fund that has been set up which will help to reform the internal management of the institutes to allow teachers, lecturers and learning to reform, to introduce new modules and programmes and create a dialogue between the institutes and universities. This will facilitate the movement of university graduates and lecturers across all third level colleges and to move on to fourth level, research and development, wherever they are needed.

It is an ambition of mine that Waterford Institute of Technology be designated a university. It has started the process and its pursuit of a university designation must be supported. Education contributes to prosperity and the south east needs a strong economic regeneration. Its economy is in transition from traditional agriculture and manufacturing to a need for developmental skill sets, to lay the foundation for a knowledge-based economy and the synergies of research, development and innovation. A university would instill a sense of pride in the south east which is neglected. The Waterford Institute of Technology is on its way to achieving this. The process we have begun here will give it a golden opportunity to pursue this status.

I welcome this legislation which has started something big. This will be a knowledge economy. Were it not for this process and the Government's major investment in education the Celtic tiger phenomenon would not have happened. This is a fine Bill and the money invested in reforming the structures, creating links with the universities and the economy is a success story. I hope that in the next few years the Waterford Institute of Technology will become a university having earned this status through research and development.