Seán Canney (Galway East, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome that this Bill has been brought forward to Second Stage. As a former lecturer in what is now ATU but formerly was GMIT, in Galway, it is important that we all support this Bill to make sure the opportunities are there for our young people in innovation and research, and that we provide opportunities for companies and small businesses in order that they can get supports to carry out research themselves. I had the honour last week to give a keynote address at the International Congress on Architectural Technology, ICAT, international conference in ATU Galway on the subject of innovation and technology in the construction industry. There were architectural technologists from Europe as well as Ireland at the conference. It was an example of how well we have come forward, and of the reputation we have built, for innovation in every sector. The construction industry is just one of those sectors crying out for more innovation and research and for more young people to be engaged in how we can find techniques that meet our environmental challenges and our demand for top-quality buildings, construction and infrastructure.

In 2015, it was first announced that the former GMIT, now part of ATU, was to get a STEM building. It is now 2024 and it still has not been built. It is still not there. I understand it is in a bundle of contracts. My message is that if we are really serious about delivering top-class education, we need to have top-class facilities. In fairness, we are delivering it right across the country but a lot of the colleges and universities in which it is being delivered were built back in the early seventies. The classroom I taught in was the same classroom I was educated in back in 1975. Nothing changed in it other than it got new paint. We have to move with the times and make sure we are investing - not spending - in the infrastructure required to deliver top-class modern facilities in order to have top-class modern, innovative thinking students coming out. We owe it to the teaching staff and management in these facilities as well. It is great to have this Bill, and all of this going on. We have plenty of examples of great work that has been done. We are blessed with fantastic staff and management in all of our universities, be they technical or any other type. What we need is more purpose and intent by the State to deliver the infrastructure we promise, rather than just making announcements and letting it sail into the wind until somebody maybe catches it ten or 15 years later. It is not good enough. We should be looking at how we can best deliver, as quickly as possible, the infrastructure that is needed by using the innovation and technology we have in our grasp, rather than clutching to old ideas and processes.

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