Relevant legislation assigning function to the HEA includes the Higher Education Authority Act, 1971, the Irish Universities Act 1997 , HEA Act 2022 the Institutes of Technology Act 2006. Under these Acts, the HEA’s principal functions are:

• To allocate the moneys provided by the Oireachtas to publicly funded institutions;
• To assist in the co-ordination of State investment in higher education and the preparation of proposals for such investment;
• To further the development of higher education;
• To promote the attainment of equality of opportunity in higher education;
• To promote the democratisation of structure in higher education;
• To conduct reviews of the strategic plans, equality policies and the quality assurance procedures of the universities, and to publish the reports of such reviews (Irish Universities Act, 1997);
• To promote the attainment and maintenance of excellence in learning, teaching and research in higher education (Institutes of Technology Act, 2006).