Shane Ross (Independent)
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I wish to raise the need for the Minister to give a guarantee of the future of the music school in Waterford Institute of Technology. The Minister will probably be aware of the very intense campaign that has been going on in Waterford over several months to keep the music school there open under a certain amount of internal and external pressure to close it. There are two issues, the first being very broad, which is that of the humanities being subordinated to technical subjects. The other is the specific one of Waterford's music school.

I pay tribute to those who have campaigned to keep the school open over the period, who have successfully persuaded the powers that be that the schools should be kept open, at least for the moment. However, it is a pyrrhic victory if the Minister gives no guarantee of the future of the music school. Perhaps I might deal very broadly with the wider issue that the humanities are being subordinated to technical subjects. It is no secret that many of those involved in this campaign felt that that was the trend in the school itself and that they could look only to the Department to rescue them. Their internal resources indicated they were losing the battle. There is a cry from the heart from those involved in the humanities in WIT to the Minister to give them the security for their subject that they cannot win internally for themselves.

The Minister knows that the school opened on 6 September, although there had been fears that it would be closed because of under-funding. Unfortunately, the fees were raised by 20%. That will cause a great deal of difficulty, since many of those who had already registered had paid fees and are now being asked for an extra 20%. However, that 20% is on top of a 35% increase the year before. We are now seeking a substantial amount of funding from students at the school, something of which they were not given proper notice; it appears to be retrospective. Some of them will obviously not pay that amount. The minimum that could be done here is to ring-fence departmental money for WIT or whomever so that it is given specifically to the music school in Waterford and cannot be pushed or diverted to any other place or any other form of education.

The accusation is often made that this is somehow an elitist form of education and that it does not pay its way because one cannot measure the results in the humanities in pounds, shillings and pence. However, that does not stand up. In this case, the fees have been set higher than those of more prestigious bodies such as the Royal Irish Academy of Music. This is a direct result of the Department, despite paying 11 teachers, not giving them the guarantees they need and allowing the uncertainty to remain, which is shared by many people in different areas of the school, including arts.

In August the college sent out letters asking for 40 staff redundancies, which naturally undermined staff. The Department appears to have kept its head down in this controversy, adding to the uncertainty. We need a recognition by the Minister that music is an important part of education in the Waterford IT, that it will be kept going come hell or high water, that it has a place there and that even though the numbers have fallen slightly, a guarantee of a future for this humanities subject in the institute will be given by the Minister.

Síle de Valera (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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I thank Senator Ross for raising this matter on the Adjournment and for affording me the opportunity to clarify the position of my Department concerning the school of music at the Waterford Institute of Technology.

The WIT has quite a large music school with approximately 30 staff providing tuition to over 800 students, mainly at junior levels but with a small third level component. The institute informed my Department earlier this year that the costs of providing this tuition had risen considerably in recent years, substantially contributed to by the improved terms and conditions of part-time staff following the part-time work Act 2001. WIT indicated that it was running its music programme at a substantial loss as the level of fees was not meeting the costs now involved and it inquired as to the availability of specific additional funding for this purpose.

The annual budget for each institute of technology is currently allocated on the basis of its total pay and non-pay requirements following consideration of its annual programmes and budget submission which is required under the RTC-DIT Acts. The allocation takes into account the complexity of the institute, the range of courses and facilities offered to students, the total number of students, both full-time and part-time, and the nature of the infrastructure. Decisions on the allocations also have regard to Government policy and priorities. My Department's provisional budget to the Waterford Institute of Technology for 2004 is €41.6 million. This compares to a budget of €39.6 million in 2003, an increase of 5.1%.

The distribution of the funding allocated to each institute among individual schools and departments is a matter for the management authorities of the institute. Part-time programmes within institutes are intended to be self-funding.

My officials met WIT representatives in July of this year. It was explained to the institute that the Department could not make specific extra funds available for the music programme and the WIT indicated that it was looking at a range of options aimed at making the programme more viable in the longer term. I understand that following an agreement reached last month between management of the WIT and the Teachers Union of Ireland which provides for the continuing provision of music education at all levels within the institute, it appears that the future of the music school at the WIT has been secured. The terms of this agreement state that intake and throughput of pupils will be monitored and structured in order to achieve an optimum size in relation to available resources. The WIT will also establish a task force to set out a strategy by which progress and development can be renewed from year to year.

I thank the Senator again for raising this matter on the Adjournment.

Shane Ross (Independent)
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I thank the Minister of State for her reply. Is it possible for the Department to ring-fence funds for an establishment such as the Waterford IT, specifically for an internal element of that establishment, in this case the music school, and are there any precedents for such ring-fencing?

Síle de Valera (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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I understand the point made by the Senator. In my reply I noted that the Department's provisional budget has already been allocated to the WIT. It is my understanding that the distribution of the funding allocated by each institute to the individual schools and departments is the responsibility of those institutes. I will make further inquiries and send on any resulting information directly to Senator Ross.