John McGuinness (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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To ask the Minister for Education and Skills his views on the issues raised in correspondence signed by the President of Institute of Technology, Tallaght, Dublin, and the chairman of the governing body of the Institute of Technology,Tallaght relative to the capital spending postponements announced by his Department; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7184/13]

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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The deferment of the planned PPP projects at the Institute of Technology in Tallaght in November 2011 was part of a Government decision to concentrate educational capital spending on delivering school accommodation required to meet to the needs of rapid demographic growth. The decision was informed by the need to prioritise resources in a difficult fiscal situation. Within the higher education sector, provision could only be made for legally binding contractual commitments. As a result unfortunately the planned PPP projects at the Institute of Technology at Tallaght, which had not reached the point of being contractual commitments, had to be deferred.

My Department has contributed €1m towards the costs of enabling works that had been undertaken by the Institute up to the end 2011. These include a number of site improvement works that enhance the overall functionality of the campus.