Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 20 January 2015
518. Deputy John McGuinness asked the Minister for Education and Skills the cost to date of the proposed amalgamation for Cork IT and Tralee IT; if there is a specific budget for this work; the timeframe for completion of the project; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [2453/15]
View answerIn Autumn 2014, CIT and IT Tralee, which had been allocated €200,000 in 2014, reported jointly on expenditure of this funding to the Higher Education Authority. In general the funding was applied to costs associated with the due diligence process (€58,999.38), analysis of structures for management and governance (€21,800.19), travel costs (€2365.11) and overheads (€12,474.70) and amounted to €95, 639.38. This represents direct project expenditure and does not include matched funding from both Institutes which is comprised of staff and other resources allocated to the project which is estimated at €114,770.00.
In August 2014, the HEA announced a further dedicated call for submissions in respect of the costs of mergers being undertaken as part of the National Strategy. A total of €2,000,000 was made available for this call. CIT and IT Tralee submitted a joint application and were awarded €766,667 in respect of their proposal, having regard to the scale of the project, the level of co-funding provided by institutions, and the track record of success in the development of the project to date. A report on funding expenditure and activity will be submitted to the HEA in mid-2015.
The consortium envisages merging in mid-2016.
