Michael Lowry (Tipperary North, Independent)
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235. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if she will reverse the decision which has resulted in St. Patrick's College in Thurles, County Tipperary, not being permitted to take on first year students for September 2015; if she will provide a guarantee as to the future of the college; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [9636/15]

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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The Deputy may be aware of the Report of the International Review Panel on the Structure of Initial Teacher Education (Sahlberg Report) published in 2012, which set out new structures for the provision of initial teacher education and is part of my Department's broader policy position on system reconfiguration, inter-institutional collaboration and system governance in Irish Higher Education.

The Sahlberg Report recommended that teacher education be facilitated in an environment conducive to high quality instruction on pedagogy and pedagogical content knowledge; in a university setting, with 'critical mass' and competitiveness for good teaching and research, synergies between different levels of education and that 6 groupings of teacher education institutes be made. The review panel found that St Patrick's College does not fulfil the requirements with regard to the optimal setting for teacher education as set out in the Report, and recommended that teacher education in this institute be discontinued.

The recommendations of the Sahlberg Report were accepted by the Minister for Education & Skills in 2012 and are being implemented under the leadership of the HEA.

Discussions on the implementation of the recommendations in the Salhberg Report took place between St Patrick's College, the HEA and my Department and the College were given approval for free fees funding, under the Free Fees Initiative, for a final intake of students in September 2014 in order to facilitate the College's orderly withdrawal from teacher education. St Patrick's College does not receive core grant funding from my Department.

It is understood that St Patrick's College and Mary Immaculate College have agreed a joint proposal regarding St Patrick's College role in the future. The implementation of the recommendations of the Sahlberg Report by the HEA is ongoing and there are no plans to change this policy.