Vol. 560 No. 1
427 Mr. Gogarty asked the Minister for Education and Science the rationale behind his Department's criteria of requiring a third level qualification of at least diploma level for acceptance to the M50 EPP programme. [1636/03]
The entry requirements for the enterprise platform programme in question are matters for the institutes of technology concerned. The institutes of technology are statutory bodies established under the Regional Technical Colleges Acts and Dublin Institute of Technology Acts 1992 to 1999. Under these Acts, the governance and day-to-day activities of the institutes, including admissions, are a matter for the institutes concerned and I have no function in this area. The enterprise platform programme offered by institutes of technology is a training and enterprise support programme that specifically targets graduate entrepreneurs who have an innovative, knowledge-based business idea and hold a recognised third level diploma or degree.
