Dr. Ruaidhrí Neavyn:

In the past, the application process made by Waterford Institute of Technology would have been an application process under section 9 of the Universities Act 1997. That particular application would have been funnelled more towards the technological university process that is now there, so, effectively, multiple institutes of technology must apply for designation as a technological university, and that is what we are doing in a south-east context. There is obviously a great level of co-operation between the two institutes. Indeed, both governing bodies, both management teams and members of the institute community are behind this effort. There is very strong support from stakeholders in the region, including Members of the Oireachtas and members of the business community, who want see this happen.