Law will require ITs to merge

The Government will not be changing the rules to allow a college apply alone to become a technological university, Education Minister Jan O’Sullivan said yesterday.

The criteria set out in 2012 for two or more institutes of technology to merge before a TU status application can be made has led to a threat of industrial action by academic staff in two colleges this week.

The Teachers’ Union of Ireland lodged a dispute this week with the Labour Relations Comission, meaning action may be triggered if management at Cork Institute of Technology and Institute of Technoloy Tralee go ahead with a merger ahead of an application to form a Munster Technological University (MTU).