Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein)
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508. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the reason the University of Limerick has received such a small proportion of the €38 million in capital investment announced on 6 September 2021 in comparison to other universities, technical universities and institutes of technology; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43276/21]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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On 6 September, I announced €38m in capital funding for higher education institutions over the 2021-2022 academic year. This devolved capital grant will facilitate higher institutions in addressing a range of key capital investment priorities.

A reduced level of funding has been approved for release to UL at this time. This funding will allow the most urgent capital priorities to be addressed, including costs associated with the expansion of CAO places and procurement of additional laptops to support disadvantaged students, if required. The release of further devolved capital funding will require certain assurances from UL in relation to capital management procedures.

As part of a series of meetings with Chairs of Governing Authorities, the HEA met with representatives of UL on Friday 20 August 2021. A range of governance issues were discussed and reviewed.

Arising from this positive engagement, it was agreed that the Governing Authority would undertake a process which would provide the HEA with assurances that the Governing Authority was satisfied that the governance improvements instituted during the lifetime of the current Authority are functioning as intended. As part of this, the HEA sought assurances that these are subject to regular and robust checks.