John Deasy (Waterford, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

My question relates to something that we discussed last night, which Deputy Deering raised. The Taoiseach's opening statement referred to Project Ireland and the Government's commitment to the development of technological universities, with particular urgency attached to the technological university in the south east. I think everyone will agree that this is urgent. The last official answer on this was given some weeks ago. The Minister of State told the Dáil that the application had not yet been received.

Somebody said in September that an application was expected within weeks and the president of Waterford Institute of Technology recently said it was progressing, albeit not as quickly as it should be. That is the understatement of the century considering how long this has been going on. The Teachers Union of Ireland, TUI, wants a memorandum of understanding to be completed before the application is submitted. There is still an issue with regard to the possibility that the headquarters of the new technological university would be located in Kilkenny and negotiations are continuing in that regard. What is the Taoiseach's view on the timeline? Can people expect progress on the technological university that has been mooted?