Carol Nolan (Offaly, Sinn Fein)
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71. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the proportion of the performance funding per third level institution that is allocated by the Higher Education Authority to higher education institutions based on the outcome of the annual review of the national plan for access to higher education; if the annual review of progress under the plan has taken place for 2015 and 2016; if any institutions failed to meet their targets under the review; if any proportion of performance related funding was withheld from the institution as a result; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15241/16]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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The National Plan for Equity of Access to Higher Education, 2015-2019, was published in December 2015.

One of the actions in the National Access Plan is for each higher education institution to reflect the goals, objectives and targets of the Plan in their individual, institutional level, access plans and in the annual compacts arising from the strategic dialogue process. This process of institutional alignment with the National Access Plan is currently under way.

In the current round of strategic dialogue, higher education institutions are being asked by the Higher Education Authority to demonstrate the extent to which their institutional level priorities and targets have regard to the new National Access Plan.

The outcome of this process is one of a number of factors that may inform future decisions by the Higher Education Authority on funding levels for individual institutions.

Progress on the National Access Plan will be reviewed in 2017.