Vol. 543 No. 2
782 Mr. Creed asked the Minister for Education and Science if he proposes to introduce amending legislation governing the institute of technology sector with a view to establishing clear accountability structures of this sector to the Minister, the Department and the Houses of the Oireachtas. [26332/01]
On 1 January 1993, the institutes of technology, which were formerly known as regional technical colleges, were established on a statutory basis under the Regional Technical Colleges Act, 1992. Similarly, the Dublin Institute of Technology was established as a statutory body under the Dublin Institute of Technology Act, 1992. These Acts provide a comprehensive legal framework governing the operation of the institutes and contain a range of provisions which explicitly define the roles and responsibilities of the governing body, the director-president, the academic council, the vocational education committee and the Minister. The main policy objective of this legislation was to provide autonomy to the Institutes, as appropriate to third level institutions, within an overall policy, budgetary and quality assurance framework designed to ensure full accountability.
In 1994 the legislation was amended by the Regional Technical Colleges (Amendment) Act, 1994, and the Dublin Institute of Technology (Amendment) Act, 1994, to provide, among other things, additional powers to the Minister to appoint a commission to carry out functions of the governing body, the chairman or the director-president where the Minister is satisfied that the affairs of the college are not being managed in an effective manner. I announced on 20 June 2001 that the Government has given its approval for the structural reform of my Department and has approved measures that include the bringing forward of legislation to extend the remit of the Higher Education Authority to co-ordinate and fund the institutes of technology. The preparation of legislative proposals in this regard will necessarily involve a review of the existing legislation governing the institutes of technology.
