Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)

The reason the report has been published today is because it was cleared by Government just yesterday. Any consideration of a university for anywhere, be it the Dublin Institute of Technology or the Waterford Institute of Technology, must be based on very strict academic criteria, on the case made for the region, as the Deputy said and must be considered in the context of national education policy. We are very well served by the existing dual system of the institutes of technology and of the universities which have served to develop our regions, to strengthen our economy and in particular, to support society.

One of the issues highlighted in the Port report is that we do not have set criteria under section 9 of the Education Act and this needs to be re-examined. The section states merely that it should be in keeping with sections 12 and 13 of the Act but it does not set out the criteria and the hoops that must be jumped.

With regard to the third level participation rate, Waterford does not have the lowest rate in the country; it is below average but its participation rate has increased by 8%. It is interesting to note that the highest rates of participation in the country are in counties which do not have a university. The highest rates are in counties Kerry, Sligo, Leitrim.

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