Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

They are all very fair questions. First, I acknowledge, as it is a statement of fact, that of all the technological universities, the only one that has ever built student accommodation, albeit in its former institute of technology construct, is what was WIT. I say that regularly as I go around the country because it is a proof of concept. The process is now as I have set out. I now have a go-ahead from the Government to invite the technological universities to bring forward proposals. That is where I told them we are going to get to. I have been saying for about a year now that 2024 is going to be the year when we invite them to bring forward their proposals. I know they are up for it. Professor Campbell, the president of SETU, has done a lot of thinking on this with the governing authority. I expect those proposal to come in. We would like to get sight of them by the end of this quarter. It is important to be honest with people about all aspects of housing. Obviously, we will be starting without planning permission. I have seen some commentary on this from some of the Deputy's colleagues in Waterford. They asked why Dublin got the go-ahead last week. Dublin got the go-ahead simply because Dublin had planning permission and I was not going to prevent an active planning permission from going ahead. Kildare got the go-ahead also. What I want is to get to a stage where we have a pipeline of projects for the region, including in Waterford.

On the engineering building, I know this has been an extraordinarily frustrating time for the south east, for Deputy Ó Cathasaigh, and for other representatives in Waterford, because it has been long promised. The Deputy knows the reasons and the complexities of the case but the factual position is that PPP bundle 2, of which this is the largest project, is at tender stage and that will be brought to finality this year.