Further and Higher Education
Dail Éireann — 2026-05-12
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Tony McCormack (FF), Offaly

Regional education provision is not just about access to courses. It is also about supporting balanced regional development and ensuring that talent can be trained within communities. Will the Minister of State outline how the Department is ensuring that regional institutions are properly resourced to compete, grow and respond to emerging skills needs, particularly in areas linked to technology apprenticeships and further workforce demands?
How will the Department measure whether progress is genuinely being made in improving regional access to higher education over the coming years?
While the tertiary courses are absolutely fantastic and brilliant, we would like to have an outreach in Offaly from somewhere like TUS that is providing third level education for people who want to participate in third level in their home towns to avoid the cost of having to pay for accommodation by moving away and avoid the cost of transport by travelling on a daily basis, and to make sure that we have that offering in Offaly in order that they do not have the burden of the extra costs.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-05-12/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-27T06:54:49+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-05-12