Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

First, the Deputy referenced anger and toxicity in politics. While anger and toxicity, when manifested in the way some local election candidates across the political divide have experienced it, is utterly unacceptable and should always be called out by all of us, as I know the Deputy would, my overwhelming experience when I engage with people right across this country is that people are fundamentally decent and that we have not lost our way in this country in knowing how we can disagree without being disagreeable and how we can have a debate without being rude and obnoxious. That is worth saying in terms of providing a degree of context to all of this as well.

In relation to a number of issues that the Deputy has raised regarding Waterford - I visited there recently and I will visit again in the next few days - to be very clear, we promised in the programme for Government to deliver a technological university. That is what the programme for Government says. Job done, we delivered it. Many people, and perhaps the Deputy, thought we might not. Staff voted for it. Students voted for it. It is in place. Businesses see the benefit of it in Waterford. Students see the benefit in Waterford. When I go around Waterford, I do not see anger around the university. I see a sense of relief that they finally have one. The Deputy's view and mine on this are a little different.

We need to do more to continue to invest in the South East Technological University. The Deputy spoke to me last week in the Dáil about the engineering - the PPP bundle 2 - and I gave him an answer that the Government is committed to that. However, the South East Technological University has already benefited from significant additional funding for its transformation to a university, including €9.5 million from the technological sector advancement fund and €13.6 million under a research agenda fund specifically ring-fenced for technological universities. Other universities cannot apply. We are currently engaging with the South East Technological University on building internal capacity through the establishment of its senior leadership team and trying to bring our academic staffing structures in line with the university sector when it comes to the role of professors.

I thank the Deputy for raising the issue of University Hospital Waterford as well. I thank the staff in that hospital for their ongoing dedication and I want them to know that we have seen the staffing growing in that hospital by more than 800 since the end of December 2019, a 43.2% increase. There is 47 more consultants working in the hospital now, 101 more non-consultant hospital doctors, 353 more nurses and mid-wives, and 123 more health and social care professionals. The budget for the hospital now, at €290 million, has increased by 44% since this Government came to office. Capital projects at the hospital have been delivered to a tune of €69.81 million since this Government came to office as well. This includes the second cath lab. I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, Senator Cummins and Deputy Ó Cathasaigh for their work on this and the construction of the OPD modular unit as well. We remain absolutely committed in relation to the cardiac services. The second cath lab opened on 4 October 2023. It operates five days a week, Monday to Friday, currently. Obviously, we want to see the opening times extended. Additional staff have been approved to extend the opening hours, and recruitment of staff is the next step in that.

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