Dr. Patricia Mulcahy:

As the Senator knows, the Wexford campus was established just over 25 years ago as a pilot. It has been a very long pilot study. Over that time, we have been operating in leased facilities which have been good as a pilot arrangement but, obviously, at this stage we have outgrown their capacity. We have almost 1,000 part-time and full-time students currently, with 100 part-time and full-time staff and 250 graduates per annum, up to master's degree level. The reason I am pointing that out is because I have heard all of the radio dialogue and sometimes when one listens to it, one would think there is nothing in Wexford. Wexford has that facility but it is time to move it on.

Approximately five years ago, we made a successful case to move it from the pilot stage and to purchase a greenfield site on which we could build a customised campus. We have, at the moment, a detailed proposal and business case for the Wexford site. The proposal is with the local authorities in higher education and we are awaiting their decision. I have seen the Minister's support for that and witnessed it in meetings with him. He strongly supports it. I would say that this is the third time we have been here. We had contracts signed and a deposit paid three years ago but the vendor withdrew. That took two years out of the five years. We have looked at many different sites, made strenuous efforts to get a site, and one would hope that we are now very close. The signs are good and I hope we will have a good result.

I must also say that we would not have been able to get to this point without the support of Wexford County Council. We will need its support as we take development to the next stage. We have included the build as part of our submission to the NDP through the HEA. The HEA took information and priorities from all higher education institutions and the Carlow Institute of Technology has included the Wexford site and the build on it as a part of that.