Relevant legislation assigning function to the HEA includes the Higher Education Authority Act, 1971, the Irish Universities Act 1997 and 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).