Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for the update. We all share the ambition of the Land Development Agency, LDA, for Columb Barracks in Mullingar for mixed use, that is, for educational, enterprise, community and housing purposes. A key part of that is a college of further education and centre of excellence for electric vehicle management.

I compliment the Longford Westmeath ETB on the work it has done thus far to bring the application to where it is. I also acknowledge SOLAS, the Minister and my colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Peter Burke, for pushing this. We really want to see this developed in Mullingar. It is an ideal location.

We must acknowledge, however, that in the last weeks there has been a change in terms of the plans for Columb Barracks, Mullingar. A lease has been entered into with the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth. They are making space available, and rightly so, to help with the influx of refugees. In the context of timing, that lease is for 12 months, and does the Minister envisage that this will have an impact on the provision of a centre of excellence in Mullingar?

In previous replies, the Minister mentioned the importance of student accommodation going hand in hand with colleges. I believe there is an opportunity to retrofit the existing buildings now to help with the accommodation crisis for refugees, which we would be able to use into the future when this centre of excellence is created.

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