Eamonn Maloney (Dublin South West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I will be brief. I was attending another meeting but I heard most of the contributions, including that of Mr. Cussen, on the monitor. Like others, I welcome him and wish him well in what is to be a very exciting project. Others have referred to the amalgamation of a number of institutes of technology and I represent a community that is very fortunate to have the Institute of Technology, Tallaght, on its doorstep. It is held in very high regard within the community because it has transformed educational opportunities in an area which is almost exclusively working class. I listened to Deputy Catherine Byrne speak about discrimination in education but all of us in the room know that if we were to base the percentage of those who participate in third level education in this country on those from working-class communities alone, the percentage would collapse. In the Institute of Technology, Tallaght, for example, one in every five students is local but before it opened, the number of children from working-class families attending third level education would have been in single digits. It has done wonderful work and there is a great staff, which accounts for the progress that it has made. The institute of technology in our community brings a sense of pride, as it has changed the opportunities available. People are loyal to it.

It is one of the colleges, along with Blanchardstown, that will be part of the project under the witness's domain. Within the college and outside it - I include myself in that sphere - there is concern about the identity of our institute being eroded. There is a strong feeling in that regard. That is understandable and it is the nature of human beings that any sort of change tends to lead to instinctive concern - I do not want to say "fright" - and we can see that in political life. The concern about retaining identity and the name is both within and outside the college. There is also concern about those who work in the college and any threat to their employment. I understand that is not an issue but it has been raised by a number of people within the college.