2026-07-14

In recent months the staff of Carlow College have faced the sudden loss of their jobs as the college is closed and acquired by South East Technological University. The workers were led to believe that the future arrangements and merger involving SETU would involve the transfer of employment. It now appears that this is no longer the case, and this has caused huge uncertainty for all involved. We have heard from the Department that there was consultation and engagement on the closing of Carlow College and the transfer of its assets to SETU, instead of a merger, which was what the staff and students of the college were led to believe was happening. Staff did not find out that their jobs were gone and this continuity not guaranteed until the announcement in May. This has caused enormous distress among staff, many of whom have devoted decades of service to Carlow College and who have spoken to my colleague, Senator Stephenson, who has done a huge amount of work on this. A protest was held last weekend by staff and students of the college who are feeling incredibly let down and distressed by this change of circumstances. They need transparency, accountability and honesty from every party involved - the Department of further and higher education, Carlow College and South East Technological University. Vague platitudes of informal arrangements or opportunities for continued employment do not reassure these workers who now have zero security. It is my understanding that the Department for higher education has decided that the transfer of undertakings regulations do not apply in this situation. This is disputed, particularly as this is not the simple sale of a campus but the merging of one educational institution with another. It is clear to me that this situation has been poorly handled by all involved and it is the staff and students who now face the consequences of this. The needs and asks of the staff and students are clear. First, they want the Department to oversee a working group involving the Department, SETU, Carlow College and staff representatives, including trade unions. This would be to examine the options that could preserve employment for them. They are also asking for the Government to guarantee enhanced redundancy protections through the ring-fencing of five weeks' redundancy arrangements for affected employees. I am keen to hear an outline from the Minister of State's Department on what it will do to ensure that pathways to staff redeployment or transfer into SETU can still be facilitated and that proposed redundancy packages are adequate and fair, especially in light of the decades of service many of these staff members have given to Carlow College. As employment spokesperson for my party, I have to say that again and again we are coming across issues where workers are having to face uncertainty in a framework that does not protect workers' rights strongly enough. It is that simple. They have to ask - there is no expectation that they have certain rights within this situation - that those minimal redundancy offers are going to be met and their representative bodies will be recognised. Instead we have a voluntarist system, which I believe does not protect workers adequately, particularly in situations like this. I will also point out that we do not want to see any differential treatment between staff, for example, in one of the more established universities versus staff in this kind of a university. Carlow College serves many of the disadvantaged communities within the area. It provides crucial educational opportunities to people in these communities. We want to make sure that they get the same treatment and the same recognition for their many years of service as any other third level employee.

I thank the Deputy for raising this very important issue. At the outset, it is important to note that Carlow College, St. Patrick's is and always has been an independent private institution operating outside the State-funded higher education sector. Decisions regarding its strategic direction and governance rest entirely with its own governing body and neither the Minister, Deputy James Lawless, nor I have a role in the appointment of its members. Additionally, as a private institution, Carlow College does not fall under the remit of the Higher Education Authority, whose remit extends to publicly funded higher education bodies. Matters such as staffing, pay and other operational costs are therefore the responsibility of the college itself as an independent employer. Despite its private status, Carlow College has benefited from substantial State support in recent years, including more than €3.1 million in student fee grant assistance, alongside an additional €750,000 annually since 2022. While this support helped address immediate financial challenges, an independent review completed in 2024 found that the college's financial position was not sustainable in the longer term. The intervention recently announced is a necessary response to the imminent risk of a disorderly collapse, which would have had serious implications for students, staff, the wider community and the future of higher education provision in Carlow. The priority of the Minister, and my priority, was to see a solution identified that protected learners, treated staff fairly in difficult circumstances and safeguarded the future educational use of the campus. With this in mind, SETU agreed in 2025 to engage with Carlow College, with support from my Department. This process involved extensive analysis and due diligence and ultimately resulted in a detailed report being provided to both institutions in early 2026. Throughout this engagement, conducted bilaterally between the two institutions, the Department did not prescribe any particular outcome. However, financial considerations were inevitably a key factor, and both governing bodies were required to assess the risks associated with the options available to them. An independent valuation of the college was also carried out in order to establish the level of financial support that could be provided by the State. Throughout these discussions, the interests of staff and students remained the central consideration. Working together, the two institutions agreed an approach designed to protect current learners while also strengthening higher education provision across the region. The model approved by both institutions, and supported by the Department, is a teach-out arrangement that will continue until 2028. This framework provides a clear basis for protecting students, avoiding a sudden closure that could have led to immediate job losses, and ensuring that the campus continues to serve as an important educational resource for Carlow and the south east. During the teach-out period, Carlow College will continue to deliver its academic programmes and will retain full responsibility for its staffing matters and academic governance. At the same time, SETU must operate within sustainable financial parameters and determine staffing needs based on its current and future activities. The planned transfer of the college's lands and buildings to SETU will generate significant State funding for Carlow College, providing essential support for the restructuring process, including measures related to staff. We fully acknowledge the distress and uncertainty experienced by staff, as the Deputy has outlined. The Minister, Deputy Lawless, has heard these concerns directly during meetings with staff representatives and SIPTU, and we understand that constructive engagement between management, staff and trade unions is continuing.

I finished my last contribution by pointing out that there should not be any hierarchy within our educational offerings in this country. I appreciate that it is not State funded, but that does not make it any less of an experience for those students who are studying there and for those teachers who, as I said multiple times, have offered decades of service to teaching in their region and community. I would have thought it all the more reason in this instance, when it is a private college where the staff do not necessarily have the same level of workers' protections as they might enjoy in the public sector, for the Department to step in. What we are looking for once again is security for staff. The staff are asking the Government to guarantee enhanced redundancy protections through the ring-fencing of five weeks redundancy arrangements for affected employees. The Department should lead immediately to establish and oversee a formal working group involving SETU, Carlow College, staff representatives and SIPTU to examine opportunities for redeployment and integration into SETU and other alternatives that minimise compulsory redundancies. If Ministers genuinely believe in stakeholder engagement, now is the time to demonstrate it. The Minister of State mentioned multiple times that the students and staff of Carlow College have been at the forefront of her thinking and that of the Minister's, Deputy Lawless. Unfortunately, that is not the message we are getting. What we are hearing is that they were not informed until late in the process that this was not a merger but in fact a selling off of assets. They were led to believe that transfer of employment would be available to them, and that there would be pathways by which they would be able to access new teaching roles in SETU after the merger. Instead, they have been faced with a very different reality in the last number of weeks. That is what we are asking for - that the Minister will engage and step in, regardless of the college's private status.

If Deputy Gibney is fair at all, she will accept that a great deal of engagement has already taken place between the Minister, Deputy Lawless, the different institutions, the trade unions and the workers. The Deputy spoke about students there. Every current learner at Carlow College will be able to complete their studies and graduate as planned without disruption or disadvantage. Those are the facts.

That is not what is coming through.

I am stating that here in the House tonight on the record. I want it to be true and it needs to be true. I think both of us agree that should be the situation. Commitment, continuity and fairness have guided every step of this process. We have every confidence that formal discussions commenced by Carlow College with their staff and staff representatives will be carried out in a transparent and forthright manner. It is not in my response here, but I did hear what Deputy Gibney spoke about in regard to the transfer of undertakings. That is something I am quite familiar with myself. I will check that out for her. I will ask about that because it is an important point and an important issue, but there is not any information about it here. To be fair, a lot of work has gone into this to try to ensure that staff and students are protected. The Minister, Deputy Lawless, has worked very hard on this. A master plan for the campus will be published in the coming months, and subject to consideration by SETU in consultation with the Department and relevant stakeholders. I do understand the Deputy's real concern on this issue and the people, students and lecturers in Carlow College. I will come back to her with any information I can glean on the transfer of undertakings. To be fair, real consultation and engagement have taken place on this issue.