Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Institute of Technology Carlow already has a Wexford campus, based in Wexford Town, which offers an extensive range of award qualifications from level 6 through to postgraduate level 9 on the national framework of qualifications.

My Department is also supportive of the proposed acquisition of a site in Wexford for development of the IT Carlow campus.  Funding has been allocated to enable IT Carlow to acquire this site in that context, with a view to developing a new purpose-built campus there.  The Higher Education Authority has approved this site acquisition on that basis.

There are also plans in place for the development of a technological university for the whole south east region consisting of a consortium involving IT Carlow and Waterford Institute of Technology. The Kelly report on the development of a technological university for the south east presented a compelling rationale for a new type of higher education institution to support a step change in the economic and social development of the entire south east region.  This is clearly the overwhelming wish of stakeholders in the region.

By creating institutions of greater scale and strength, high-quality multi-campus technological universities will be able to bring greater social and economic benefits to their respective regions through the delivery of a broad range of high-quality education and training in each of their campuses. The core elements of a new technological university in the south east have been already set out.

In relation to the legislation to underpin the development of technological universities, the legislative programme was published on 17 January 2017 and the Technological Universities Bill is listed on the Dáil Order Paper and awaiting Committee Stage.

Following the finalisation of the ongoing consultation process I will then advance the legislation, having determined a position in relation to any matters raised.

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