Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 23 October 2018
296. Deputy Brendan Ryan asked the Minister for Education and Skills the status of the school in an institute (details supplied); his plans to appoint an independent chair of the institute; if the terms of section 5(1)(c) of the Institute For Advanced Studies Act 1940 will be adhered to in respect of its obligation to provide funding for fieldwork in order to record spoken Irish; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43785/18]
View answerThe institute referred to by the Deputy was established under the Institute for Advanced Studies Act, 1940. The functions of the Institute referred to are to provide facilities for the furtherance of advanced study and the conduct of research in specialised branches of knowledge and for the publication of the results of advanced study and research.
The institute has three constituent schools and each constituent school is under the control and management of an independent Governing Board. The Chairman and appointed members of the Governing Board of each Constituent School are appointed by the President on the advice of the Government. Appointments are normally made every five years. The Department has been notified of the requirement to appoint a Chair to the Governing Body of one of the constituent schools and is progressing this matter.
One of the statutory functions of the institute referred to by the Deputy is the 'phonetic investigation of existing Irish dialects and the recording of the living Irish speech'. In that context, the institution provides facilities for the furtherance of such advanced study and research and for the publication of the results of such study and research, which is facilitated, in part, by the funding allocated to it by my Department. My Department allocates recurrent funding directly to this institute. However, as an autonomous body, the institute is responsible for the allocation of all of its funding (both public and private) and the internal disbursement of that funding.
