Jimmy Deenihan (Kerry North, Fine Gael)
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Question 291: To ask the Minister for Education and Science if funding will be provided for an accelerated degree in early childhood care and education at the Institute of Technology, Tralee, County Kerry; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [33777/06]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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A Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Early Childhood Care and Education was sanctioned by my Department as part of the 2005/06 Programme for the Institute of Technology Tralee. The course was sanctioned on the understanding that the Institute was satisfied that it could meet the operational costs of the full cycle of the course and there would be no additional staffing requirements for the duration of the course. I understand that the course commenced in September 2005.

The annual budget for each Institute of Technology is at present 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.

The Institutes of Technology Act 2006 provides that the HEA rather than the Minister will in future approve Institutes' budgets. The new budgetary arrangements provided for in the Act are similar to those obtaining in the Universities. They will allow the Institutes greater operational and academic freedom to provide courses in accordance with their overall remit.