Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

We were delighted to advocate for, support and facilitate the passing of the Technological Universities Act. I particularly welcome what is happening in Dublin. There is teaching, learning and research ongoing in the Dublin Institute of Technology and the institutes of technology in Tallaght and Blanchardstown which will come together while retaining separate campuses. We offer an unequivocal welcome, as there was much toing and froing. It is to the considerable credit of new politics that the legislation has come through and there is a result from it. There has been much criticism of new politics that nothing can get done, but this could not have been done during the term of the previous Government which had the biggest majority in the history of the State. The joint committee played a key role in that regard.

Student housing is a major issue. It is of concern that it seems to be a priority of the new technological university that housing be provided for its incoming president. It has been suggested in newspapers that a property known as Kirwan House has possibly been acquired to accommodate the president. It is almost 2,000 sq. ft in size and a rezoning application in Dublin will be required. It seems we have got things the wrong way around. No accommodation is provided for the presidents of the institutes of technology, although I know that there is in other universities and that the issue can be controversial. There is a severe shortage of accommodation in Dublin. With the positives of this announcement, the establishment of the technological university at Grangegorman will bring with it the negative of a huge number of students looking for accommodation in the area. I hope the Minister of State can shed some light on what is going on in accommodating the incoming president.