John Deasy (Waterford, Fine Gael)

It just did not happen. We had to do it all on our own. We had to do everything from scratch without Government assistance. The students in question are coming to Dungarvan, County Waterford, in two weeks' time. One of the problems that is encountered when a third level institution like Mercyhurst College comes to Ireland and seeks to apply for grant assistance is that it has to have a co-ordinated relationship with an existing Irish third level institution. In some cases, the US college or institution does not want such a relationship. Graduates of intelligence studies at Mercyhurst College are employed by bodies like the CIA and the FBI. These studies have a massive business application. This growing knowledge-based industry is booming around the world. Mercyhurst College is one of the leaders in this area in the United States. I expected that somebody in a Department would latch on to the college's booming, innovative and leading-edge involvement in this sector, but that did not happen. When I balanced that against all the talk about encouraging innovation and attracting niche industries to Ireland, I was in no doubt that it was just a bunch of baloney.

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