Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

That is precisely the issue. Should we take the legislative route or a different approach? I am open to discussing the issue and my Department will engage with the Senator and others to ensure that, as we move to Committee and Report Stages of the Bill, we will have an understanding of what is the best way to address the matter.

I assure Senator Michelle Mulherin that, in my view, Castlebar must have a future in the Galway and Mayo Institute of Technology, GMIT, development plan. This has been made clear and a plan is being developed. The Senator stated institutes of technology did not access Science Foundation Ireland, SFI, research funding. That is broadly true as the research centres are, by and large, located in universities. The €150 million of research funding provided by SFI is not the responsibility of my Department. We are undertaking a journey towards technological universities, which is partly about building applied research capability in the institutes of technology. The institutes of technology are on a journey and must reach critical thresholds in terms of PhD numbers and other factors before they can achieve technological university status. We hope we can get groups of institutes of technology to travel this journey together. That process is well under way.

The way in which the Higher Education Authority allocates funding has been that 40% of the pot is allocated to institutes of technology, with the remainder allocated to universities. This approach is being reviewed. As institutes of technology grew more rapidly than universities, they saw the funding available to them spread among a larger number of students, with the result that the amount available per student declined in comparison with the universities. Ironically, the figure of 40% was arrived at to protect the institutes of technology from being overrun by the universities. It subsequently transpired, however, that the institutes of technology lost out as a result of this allocation ratio. The Department is reviewing the matter.

I cannot select one single school to be given retrospective credit. I have a certain amount of money available and allowed 79 schools through the process, including the school mentioned. I have to be fair to all schools as I am sure other schools among the group of 79 could argue that they stood out for all sorts of reasons. I must apply the rules fairly to all schools.