Written answers

Friday, 16 September 2016

Department of Education and Skills

Third Level Facilities

Photo of Clare DalyClare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent)
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387. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if he is aware of the current situation at DIT whereby the governing body has failed to sign funding agreements with the Students' Union leaving staff without wages and students without welfare and supports in place for the new term; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24482/16]

Photo of Richard BrutonRichard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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DIT has confirmed that funding to the DIT Students' Union (DITSU) has been maintained without interruption. There has been no financial threat to staffing of DITSU or to its activities.

On an annual basis DITSU receives funding of €1.1 million through DIT under a funding agreement between DIT and DITSU. This level of funding, which is greater than that available to students' unions in any other institution, has been maintained over the last three years despite challenging economic times in higher education. As the three-year funding agreement expired on 30 June this year, negotiations on a new agreement took place over the previous six months and agreement was reached and formally signed by the President of DITSU and the Director of Student Services. As any such agreement is subject to DIT Governing Body approval, it was presented jointly by DIT and DITSU to Governing Body.

While the agreement was broadly accepted, the Audit Committee of Governing Body has asked for an amendment to a paragraph concerning internal audit. DITSU has expressed concern in relation to its own independence if it is required to submit information through the Internal Audit function in DIT. DIT fully accepts the importance of the independence of the Students' Union and does not wish to interfere with this in anyway. While the Internal Audit function is the administrative conduit through which Audit Committee oversees DIT finances, the audits are in fact conducted by external bodies. The matter of oversight is entirely the responsibility of the Governing Body Audit Committee and is not a process in which the Institute management can be involved.

DIT and DITSU management have met on a number of occasions since the issue arose to seek a solution that may be acceptable to the Audit Committee. It is hoped that the matter can be resolved satisfactorily and that the new three-year agreement can be formally implemented. In the interim, funding is being provided to DITSU on a similar basis to the arrangements under the expired agreement.

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