Aisling Dolan (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State. Is it not wonderful that more students with a third level degree will now be able to take part in the electoral process for Seanad Éireann? It will make the Seanad a lot more relevant to young people, and that is what we want to see. We want people involved in what we do in this House day to day in order that they care about their representatives, who come through the universities and the colleges. In that context, I welcome the Bill.

I pay tribute to the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science on all the changes we see coming through with the higher education Act. I pay tribute also to our former Minister of State, Mary Mitchell O'Connor, who introduced the very first technological university. These TUs are absolutely crucial. The Minister of State will see - I am sure he will be looking for them - centres of excellence coming out of our TUs. We have the brand-new Technological University of the Shannon, TUS, in Athlone. It has just opened up a learning gate in Ballinasloe town. It is looking at opening up another 11 learning gates. These are places where students can come to study. We will also see that for the Atlantic Technological University, ATU. These are campuses all over Letterkenny, Castlebar, Mountbellew and Galway. Students who are part of the TUs all across the country, not just in our cities but in our towns, will now be able to participate in voting for Senators as nominated through the higher education institutions. That accounts for six of the Senators in our grouping.

This is absolutely fantastic. I thank the Minister of State for his time and look forward to hearing his response.