Minister James Lawless paid a visit to campus on Wednesday, his first trip to Trinity since his appointment as Minister of Further and Higher Education, Research and Innovation and Science.
Minister Lawless is a Trinity graduate, holding a maths degree and a Master’s in High Performance Computing from Trinity. The Fianna Fáil TD was appointed to cabinet by Taoiseach Micheál Martin last month.
Provost Linda Doyle said they had a conversation about “the external environment in which universities are operating, supports for our students, Funding the Future, research and research infrastructure”.
During the visit, Lawless met Professor Tristan McLoughlin, Head of the School of Mathematics and a former classmate of his.
As well as this, Lawless was greeted by students from the School of Mathematics and Trinity Dean of Research Sinéad Ryan.
Lawless also visited House 9, where he lived during his time in Trinity and met members of The Hist.
Lawless said “I have many happy memories from my time spent at Trinity and greatly enjoyed my time here.”
“I lived in the residences for a while as a student and got to stop in to my old residence halls on my visit.”
A spokesperson from the college said “Trinity looks forward to working with Minister Lawless on the many exciting opportunities ahead for universities as well as on the challenges facing the third-level sector”.
