Susan O'Keeffe (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I, too, welcome the new arrangements for the new clusters and the new technological universities, as announced this morning by the Minister for Education and Skills. I ask the Leader for an early debate because I am sure there will be much interest in this issue. Between the 21 institutions, universities and institutes of technology, there will be four clusters across the country, including two in Dublin-Leinster, one in the mid-west and west and one in the south. Let me clarify an article in The Irish Times today that suggests the IT Sligo bid for technological university status, with Letterkenny and Galway-Mayo institutes of technology, failed. In fact, no bid was actually made. Therefore, there has been no failure. If the three institutes of technology that are working together decide in the future to make a bid to become a technological university, the option will still be available to them. In the meantime, they will form part of the new cluster for the west and north-west. This, I hope, will allow expertise to be developed in the individual colleges and for the colleges to work together to avoid duplication in their various areas of expertise. The Minister's announcement is welcome and we should have an early debate on it.

It is welcome that the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs will be present in the House today. Many issues are still being raised. I would like to highlight the continuing delay in police checks, not only for those who work in crèches but also for those working in many other areas. We should have a conversation about police checks and the lengthy and continuing delays. The delays cause problems for businesses, particularly crèches.