GMIT campus future
Deputy Lisa Chambers raised concern that staff at GMIT Mayo were being told to move to Galway before a working group had reported on the campus's future. The Minister said HEA funding work and a specific working group were intended to support multi-campus institutes and address GMIT's concerns.
In the programme for Government, there is a commitment to the equality of access to education and to an increase in the number of opportunities available. The Minister recently appointed a working group to look at the future of the GMIT campus in Mayo to ensure its future and sustainability. It now appears that the GMIT management have pre-empted the outcome of the working group. They have now told certain members of staff who were on certain courses that have been axed or cut from the offering at Mayo GMIT that they must "voluntarily" move to Galway and that if they do not do so, they will be redeployed elsewhere in the Civil Service. This seems to be totally at variance with the working group that the Minister established only a number of weeks ago.
I wrote to the Minister and asked him for the terms of reference for that group, the time it should report by and who will be in it. He failed in his reply to me to answer any of those questions. Is the Minister going to ensure the working group gets an opportunity to do its work? Is he going to ask GMIT management to desist from moving staff, which is essentially a downgrading and an asset-stripping of our GMIT campus in Mayo?
Comment on this
I am glad to say that we are in a position to start funding the third level sector. In its assessment of the institutes of technology, the Higher Education Authority, HEA, recognises that there are particular problems for multi-campus institutes such as GMIT. The HEA has recognised that and will in its funding review, which is now being undertaken, ensure that resources can be made available to support multi-campus activity. As the Deputy indicated, I have also established a working group to look specifically at GMIT, where I know there is concern about its future. That is to ensure that we can develop a sustainable future that will not only guarantee the continuation of the college but also provide the underpinning of regional development in the area, which is an important function of the institutes of technology. I can assure the Deputy that our Department is fully committed to the Castlebar institution.