John Halligan (Waterford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

-----to join the Institute of Technology Carlow and Waterford Institute of Technology, WIT. Both entities are engaged in negotiations.

The Government has put several funding streams in place to support regional development in the south east, including the Department's regional enterprise development fund, REDF. As of June 2019, the south east region has secured a total of €10 million from the fund. The Minister announced a further €45 million of funding under call 3 of the REDF and she intends to announce the successful projects by the end of the year. The percentage of the funding being garnered by the south east is at least at the level, if not way ahead, of the funding being secured in other areas. The facts and figures are clear. Three out of every five jobs that have been created during the past nine months have been outside Dublin, with a substantial number created in the south east.

See this speech in context