Mary Mitchell O'Connor (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I wish to be very clear that any institute of technology can decide to seek to join an existing consortium if all parties agree. That reset button is there from the Department of Education and Skills. We would welcome any positive moves from any institutes of technology. Senator Nash is referring to Dundalk Institute of Technology in particular but I would say to the other consortia to please hurry up the process. It is going on far too long. I really want people to engage in the process for the sake of the students. Any of the consortia, including Dundalk Institute of Technology, can decide to join an existing consortium or form a new consortium of their own if sufficient partners can be found.

I will outline what Dundalk Institute of Technology has been doing. The institute had at one point considered joining the Connacht-Ulster alliance, the CUA consortium, which comprised GMIT, IT Sligo and Letterkenny IT. The Department supported two separate studies that examined Dundalk Institute of Technology, Limerick IT and Athlone IT potentially also joining the CUA. These studies were the Economic Impact of a Technological University in Ireland - An exploratory study by Viewforth Consulting Limited and The Development of the Technological University TU5: International perspectives and options, by Professor John L. Davies. In the final analysis none of these institutes of technology, including Dundalk Institute of Technology, joined the CUA consortium. Athlone and Letterkenny institutes signalled earlier this year that they would form a consortium of their own, a decision that has subsequently been formalised by the governing bodies of both higher institutes. The consortium received €2 million in 2018 in higher education landscape restructuring funding to advance these proposals. Our door in the Department is open. One will not find another Minister more anxious to get the technological universities up and running. As I said earlier, we will help in that process. Again, I ask that they please get around the table to work it out. We are waiting to help them down the line.