Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if his attention has been drawn to the fact that IT Tallaght has spent €3.5 million from non-Exchequer resources as part of the preparatory phase of a major capital work which his Department included in its commitments under the public capital programme but which has subsequently not been funded; his views on whether it fair that the institute has to carry such a deficit and if he is proposing to take any remedial action to assist the Institute. [13168/13]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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To ask the Minister for Education and Skills his views on the equity of IT Tallaght losing €3.5 million from student, non-Exchequer resources due to the failure of the State to provide promised capital funding; and if his attention has been drawn to the fact that this has significant implications for an institute which serves one of the poorest communities in the country. [13169/13]

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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I propose to take Questions Nos.69 and 70 together.

My Department provided funding of over €1.3m to IT Tallaght to defray costs that it incurred towards necessary enabling external infrastructure works required at the Institute as a prerequisite to the delivery of 3 Public Private Partnership (PPP) projects that were in planning for the Institute. As a result of a requirement to prioritise capital resources in the current difficult fiscal environment, a decision was taken in November 2011 that higher education projects that had not been contractually committed at that stage, including these PPP projects, would not be progressed. However, the nature of the site enabling works undertaken enhances the overall quality of the external environment and will benefit the Institute in the long term.