Mr. Paul Hannigan:

I thank members for their very positive comments.

In response to Senator Blaney's comments specifically around the shared island unit, it is a real opportunity for us in this context. We have had some preliminary discussions with the people who manage the shared island unit to establish where they are coming from and what they are trying to do. We are very conscious that the Higher Education Authority's funding streams I mentioned in my introductory piece have disappeared because funding is now being put directly into the technological university sector, rather than looking at landscape funding that allowed us to get funding to support the cluster up to date. The shared island unit is a real opportunity to consider what can be developed or supported across the two institutions and they are open to that. The majority of the funding from the shared island unit initially probably will be through major infrastructural projects, some of which probably will go to infrastructural projects on both campuses. At the same time, we envisage that soft supports will be put in place to continue the work we have started in this space. We are very excited by that in terms of the shared island unit and how we can move forward with that over the next while. We have started those conversations already.

In the context of the city deal and inclusive future funding that is going into Derry, the two councils in the region, namely, Donegal County Council, and Derry City and Strabane District Council, have worked very hard to balance the funding on my side of the Border to ensure there is equivalent funding to support Donegal in the context of the development of Derry in the context of the north-west city region, which must continue. We have all contributed to the arguments in favour before both councils and will continue to do so. I give great credit to both councils for the work they have done because they have opened the field for us and gave us an opportunity to get into and move forward in this space, with political support, which is really important to us.

In the context of local employment, Professor Ó Néill can talk broadly about the situation on the other side of the Border. In terms of the foreign direct investment in the Letterkenny space, specifically from IDA Ireland, between 4,500 and 5,000 people are employed in that specific area whether it is in fintech or whatever. We believe that approximately 60% of the people employed in those institutions came from Letterkenny Institute of Technology in one form or another. While we have graduates going into those programmes, we are also doing significant upskilling for existing staff and in addition, senior management have completed masters programmes etc. with us. That relationship is really strong and we want to continue to build on that for the further development of the region.

I welcome the comments made by Deputy Conway-Walsh about the Connacht-Ulster alliance, CUA. I know that she is very interested in the Mayo campus and has recently discussed this matter with Dr. Orla Flynn in GMIT. The development of a technological university, for which we hope to make an application in the next month or so, will be a really important development from our perspective on the west coast.

Looking from our specific location in Letterkenny, while engaging with the Connacht-Ulster alliance on the development of the technological university concept, we were always conscious that we could not turn our back on Northern Ireland. That is why we have been actively involved in this cross-border cluster and we envisage that continuing as the technological university evolves. At that stage, there will probably be even closer contact between the various different bodies. Professor Ó Néill can deal with the specific questions about capital development at the Magee campus.

In terms of the questions asked by Deputy Mac Lochlainn, what is expected from us has been well laid out. In terms of complementary programmes rather that competing programmes, we are already in that space. At the launch of this cluster, we were able to profile a young man who started off at the North West Regional College, moved to Letterkenny Institute of Technology to study another programme and is completing a PhD study with us. He had been to the University of Ulster for some element of his programme and I think he went to school in Donegal in the education and training board, ETB, system. Therefore, he has availed of four institutions and hit every note. We saw the potential of people using all of the network within the north west to improve their own educational profile and journey as a result.

I have mentioned funding in the context of trying to strike a balance in funding on both sides of the Border. The cross-border cluster is unique and innovative because it is one of the first times that the Higher Education Authority gave funding to a cross-border project where it could be used on both sides of the Border. From my perspective, that was a strong endorsement by the Higher Education Authority in the Republic of Ireland that we could be part of the cross-border cluster and part of the technological university because the HEA funded both of them at the same time. That was a real strong endorsement of the strategy that we have followed in Letterkenny and one that will follow through strongly into the future. Perhaps Professor Ó Néill wants to take up a few specific issues.