Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I echo Deputy Burke's comment that the establishment of MTU is the beginning of the journey. There will be expansion and additionality as the university grows.

Deputy Ó Murchú is entirely right. When one goes to the dance but does not pick a partner and everyone is partnered off, one is left alone. We have two institutes of technology, both of which are excellent, namely DkIT and IADT in Dún Laoghaire, that are currently not aligned with technological university development consortiums. I want to be very clear that they both have a major role to play. DkIT is in a crucial geographical location in the north east, as Deputy Ó Murchú well knows. Its close proximity to the Border is also key in the context of Brexit and all of the economic challenges that will bring. I am very eager to visit Dundalk and would be happy to do so in the new year. I have had a number of conversations with the president of DkIT and I am of the view that there are a number of opportunities for Dundalk but I do not wish to speculate on them publicly. There are a number of cross-border opportunities that would make sense and I would be interested in working with Deputy Ó Murchú on them. As he said, despite the fact that DkIT is not in any of the consortiums, we provided funding in October from the transformation fund to help it to explore its options.

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