Mr. Jimmy Deenihan:

That is a pertinent question. A STEM building is being provided on the north campus of MTU in Tralee, which is one of a number of projects that have come together through the HEA. If we come together, we could do a project to provide accommodation on-site. There is no doubt about that. After today, we will be discussing matters between ourselves. I know there is an executive function here with regard to the college and the presidents are involved. However, as chairpersons, this issue is something on which we will put emphasis. We are all new to the job, some are newer than others, but we will put emphasis on this area because of our discussion with the committee. This is something Dr. Prendergast, Ms Feehily and I can do together. We can connect with the Government as well to come up with creative ideas.

To give a small example, the sports academy in Tralee was a kind of private public partnership. Considerable money was collected from the private sector, which was then matched by money from the public sector. There is now a state-of-the-art product at MTU in Tralee. Something similar is happening in Cork, perhaps without the same ratio between private and public funding. That project in Cork is happening with money that was saved in the past. It can be done. There are good examples already where it was done to some extent. That is something we will take from today's meeting. We will collaborate and try to find some solutions.