Brendan Griffin (Kerry South, Fine Gael)
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347. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government further to Parliamentary Question No. 965 of 18 September 2013, when progress will be made on an issue (details supplied) regarding graduate recognition [39250/14]

Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)
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Section 14 of the Building Control Act 2007 includes provision for the prescription of educational bodies or qualifications whose graduates may be recognised, subject to certain other requirements being fulfilled, as eligible for inclusion on the register of architects as established under the Act. My Department is satisfied that all the necessary procedural requirements are in place to allow the Master of Architecture Degree programme awarded jointly by University College Cork and the Cork Institute of Technology, through the Cork Centre for Architectural Education, to become a prescribed course for the purposes of the Act. The necessary regulations prescribing the course are currently being prepared by my Department and will be finalised shortly.

The recognition of this, and other prescribed courses, including that provided by ARAE Limited, a private company operating from the campus of University College Dublin, within the EU/EEA is a matter for the European Commission. The Royal Institute of Architects of Ireland, as the competent national authority in respect of the profession of Architecture, has indicated that it is willing to assist, where possible, course providers in preparing their applications to the European Commission for recognition of the qualifications concerned.