Ciarán Cannon (Galway East, Fine Gael)

As indicated in the discussion on section 39, there is no obligation on previously established universities to have their programmes validated by the authority, although they may apply for validation if they so wish. If a previously established university was to apply for validation, it is reasonable that the appeal procedures that apply to all providers would also apply to them. As the Senator pointed out, section 14 of the Universities Act 1997 on academic freedom applies in its own right.