Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein)

Waterford city is the only gateway city that does not have a university. I listened to the Minister's point about the consultation process. Would he not accept that there has been a lack of urgency in this regard in the past? Other Ministers have considered this previously. I agree with the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Deputy Bruton, that this is not the be-all-and-end-all when it comes to solving the problems facing Waterford, but it would be a step in the right direction.

The Government is talking about the possibility of a technological university for Waterford. What does that mean? Would it be on a par with other universities in the State? Would it put Waterford and the south east into the top tier of university provision? Would a technological university have the finance, autonomy and branding of a fully fledged university? There is a credibility gap because the process has taken so long.

The Minister mentioned that the institute has links with TalkTalk. There is also an issue to do with the fact that money was not obtained from the European globalisation adjustment fund. People are angry and upset about the fact that we will not be using this resource. We should look again at this. The general consensus across the political spectrum seems to be that we need to move forward urgently in terms of university status for Waterford Institute of Technology.

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