Mattie McGrath (Tipperary South, Fianna Fail)

I appreciate the opportunity to raise a very important issue tonight that concerns the whole of County Tipperary, north and south. We were one constituency back in the 1940s but we are a very proud and united county despite having two county councils, local authorities and Dáil constituencies. We have a serious issue with the Tipperary Institute, although I acknowledge the recent efforts of the Minister for Education and Science and his officials, as well as the voluntary board of the Tipperary Institute and public representatives from the county.

We have a serious issue with the Tipperary Institute, although I acknowledge the recent efforts of the Minister for Education and Science and his officials, the voluntary board and all public representatives in Tipperary. We had a problem with the McCarthy report, which recommended the closure of the institute and I acknowledge the efforts of everybody, not least the Department and the Minister for staving off that challenge. It would have been a pity because we have a proud history going back to when I was a member of the VEC in the early 1990s. A former colleague, Con Brennan, was chairman of the council and a former county manager and he had meetings with Mr. Luke Murtagh and Mr. John Slattery, chief executive officers of the respective VECs in Tipperary, to set up the Tipperary Rural and Business Development Institute, TRBDI. It was launched by the former Taoiseach, Deputy Bertie Ahern, ten years ago.

TRBDI then changed its name to Tipperary Institute and it was always agreed the two campuses in Tipperary and Clonmel would have equal status. The deal also provided for outreach centres in different towns and VEC centres around the country. The Celtic tiger was roaring at the time and it was difficult to attract students to a rural and business development institute. Our numbers did not increase as quickly as they should but, with the downturn in the economy over the past two years, people are flocking back to the institute to do many varying rural and business courses, which are valuable and necessary for upskilling and reskilling them to return to the workforce and, more important, business.

The McCarthy report presented a serious challenge but, thankfully, that has abated and we are faced with stabilising the college and participating in a merger with a similar sized institute. We acknowledge we cannot live on our own and integration of the Tipperary Institute with another institute is important. We are looking to integrate with Limerick Institute of Technology, LIT. We will retain our brand name, board and president and we are working out arrangements with the Department and the colleges.

Tipperary Institute is a limited company and that creates a number of problems. Many sleight of hand remarks were directed at the staff-student ratio at the institute and I condemn them because, at the outset, 60% of the staff were to be engaged in work on the institute's main campuses and 40% were to be deployed in the community because it focused a rural-based development. The staff had contracts to do so and while these will be changed, that was the concept at the beginning and it will need to be continued. We cannot walk away and forget the initial intention was to support business enterprises in the community.

The strategy on higher education is due on the Minister's desk early in the new year and we were delighted to be reassured by him that it will not affect the Tipperary Institute and it can look to merge with LIT. I look forward to a strengthened board, a more progressive and dynamic range of courses and the delivery of excellent services.

The Clonmel campus operates out of a shed. It was built in three months to coincide with the opening of the Thurles campus. A cost neutral proposal was put on the table by the county manager of South Tipperary County Council and it is proposed to move to Ballingarrane, which is a prestigious site north of Clonmel town. An IT centre has been located there. We want the Minister and his officials to fast forward the project to allow us to develop our proposals at Ballingarrane, which will be cost neutral for the Department. The campus will be equal to that in Thurles and this will allow the institute to proceed with a merger and strategic alliance. It would then be able to reorganise and refocus to serve the people of Tipperary and beyond, as was envisaged from the outset, and to attract many students who currently leave the county to study in Cork, Waterford and Limerick, to pursue their courses in Tipperary.

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