Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Unprecedented resources have been allocated to the health services this year, including in Waterford. That will continue, in the context of both Covid-19 and non-Covid health services. There are unprecedented resources across the board, including in University Hospital Waterford. The Waterford catheterisation laboratory project is happening in terms of the tendering process and so forth, and the Deputy knows that. We will see that brought to fruition given that the tendering process is close to completion. The Deputy has been apprised of that with regard to the second catheterisation laboratory. Discussions are ongoing on the progression to seven-day extended hours working on an incremental basis during 2021. We all know Covid has impacted on non-Covid health services across the board and in all hospitals due to the fact that elective procedures and outpatient services have had to be reduced.

As regards the technological university of the south east, the Deputy's comments are unfair. The most important point is that there will be a technological university for the south east. That is critical. People have campaigned for it for years. I recall that when I was Minister for Education I was responsible for the most significant expansion of footprint for Waterford Institute of Technology in terms of acquiring new lands for the campus to develop and expand. The Government is committed to expanding the footprint of Waterford Institute of Technology as part of the movement to university status.

It is anticipated that an application for technological university designation will be submitted, under the Act of 2018, by the consortium to the Minister, Deputy Harris, for a decision no later than 28 April 2021. The consortium will then be subject to peer review and the various processes. The consortium is anticipating technological university establishment by 1 January 2022. That is something we should collectively go after for the benefit of Waterford and the south east as regards higher education participation.

No decision has been made on the headquarters for the new university. I have had this discussion perviously. The most important aspect of this is the critical mass of the technological institute itself. As I said, the Government is committed to expanding the footprint of the existing institute in Waterford and that will happen. All Deputies have been consistent and constructive in pursuing this objective, which is an important objective which we should not undermine in any way because that would be to the detriment of Waterford.

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