Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Michael Collins for his best wishes and send my best wishes to Deputy Mattie McGrath and wish him a speedy recovery. He would normally be here very vociferously asking this question and I am sure he will be monitoring my reply very carefully.

I was delighted to see the Technological University of the Shannon: Midlands Midwest open its doors at the start of the month to become the third technological university in the State. The communities in areas where there are campuses of the new technological university will experience a range of benefits. Clonmel is now a university town. Thurles is now a university town. You can now access university education for the first time in County Tipperary. The universities will attract more students, help communities to create and retain skills and employment, and act as a catalyst for research, innovation and enterprise. This will be critical to fostering our SME sector as well attracting increasing levels of investment, including foreign direct investment. It will help educationally but also contribute to regional and socio-economic development which is so important in provincial and rural Ireland.  

The development of purpose-built student accommodation is an important part of increasing the attractiveness of the new technological university to prospective students. As I have discussed with others this morning, we are currently engaging with technological universities to invite them to prepare to send forward proposals on how they can develop their own purpose-built student accommodation.

I visited Thurles and Clonmel very recently and visited the Mary Immaculate College campus in Thurles. From memory, it has accommodation for around 200 students and has proposals to develop more. The chief executive of its county council was there. I see great potential in that project. There are also many exciting developments in Clonmel. We will shortly invite the Technological University of the Shannon: Midlands Midwest and other technological universities to bring forward proposals and work with them to make sure they can access the borrowing framework to deliver those projects.

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