John Halligan (Waterford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The Bill authorises the Government to describe an education provider as a university for a particular purpose. I want to ask questions on why the Government is using the merger process to create certain institutes which it will describe as technological universities. I believe it is to fob off voters in several regions of the country. This is not a political statement, and I will go into detail as to why I believe this is the case.

More than €400,000 has been spent on the planned merger between Waterford Institute of Technology and Institute of Technology, Carlow. This was suspended last year when Waterford IT pulled out of the negotiations following the leak of a report commissioned by the college, which was subsequently withdrawn, which stated the merger would hinder rather than help Waterford IT's bid for university status and would delay the process for up to five years. The lecturing staff in Waterford IT have made clear their views on the merger process and they are in the Labour Court. Their trade union representatives recently met Michael Kelly, who is overseeing the process, and told him they did not want to be forced into the merger. They also made the point that the goalposts for university designation have kept changing over the years, depending on what political wind has been blowing. My information is Mr. Kelly told the TUI and Waterford IT that the institute being allowed to stand alone was not envisaged by the Department of Education and Skills. Over recent years, I have spoken about this to a number of Ministers with responsibility for education. There seems to be a fear factor in the Department about coming out honestly and straightforwardly and taking what will come if it does not leave Waterford IT stand alone. It should tell the people of Waterford what it will do. Will the Department merge Waterford IT with IT Carlow or will the Minister allow it to stand alone?

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