Further and Higher Education
Dail Éireann — 2025-12-11
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Brendan Smith (FF), Cavan-Monaghan

I was very glad that the Minister was able to accept my invitation to attend Cavan Institute and see it first hand, meeting the students, staff and board of management. There is a vibrancy to Cavan Institute and also Cavan Youthreach. Oftentimes, Youthreach does not get the attention it deserves. In Cavan and Monaghan, I see it as a pathway to further education and on to higher education as well.
I was delighted that day in Cavan that the Minister was able to state very clearly that he was very anxious to advance the proposal to provide major additional permanent accommodation at the institute's existing campus at Cathedral Road, Cavan. I have a particular affinity with Cavan Institute. I was involved from the beginning with its establishment and I was the chair of the first board of management. I have seen it go from strength to strength and, at all times, the institute has worked in partnership with local enterprise and the local community. It is about working together, and I want to see, as the Minister has heard me say before, more co-operation on an all-Ireland basis in relation to the provision of further education.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2025-12-11/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-27T06:54:48+00:00
Sitting date: 2025-12-11