Further and Higher Education
Dail Éireann — 2026-04-23
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James Lawless (FF), Kildare North

A number of institutions in the State are perhaps finding they struggle. I am not saying Marino is in this category, but there are some smaller institutions that may find they do not enjoy critical mass and wish to partner with a larger institution. It is one of the reasons the technological universities were created. We had multiple institutes of technology around the country, and joining those together meant the whole was greater than the sum of the parts. That was very much the philosophy that led to the creation of the technological universities. The process was assisted by an OECD report to ensure that the criteria for gaining university status were being met in all cases. To be fair, there have been some excellent examples of research innovation and high-quality education across all the TUs. It is beyond doubt at this stage that they have not only met those targets but surpassed them, and this is why they are technological universities today.
Some of the institutions, however, for whatever reason, were not suitable or did not engage in that process. Earlier, we heard a debate about the Dún Laoghaire Institute of Art, Design and Technology, and I absolutely share its ambitions for university status. It is the aspiration of Dundalk Institute of Technology, along with Queen's University, to become a university college there.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-04-23/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-27T06:54:48+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-04-23