George Lawlor (Wexford, Labour)

As the Minister stated, the site at Killeens has been CPOed but is subject to an ongoing arbitration to agree a final price. While Wexford County Council can access the site immediately, it cannot give a sale price to SETU for its portion of the land until the arbitration process is concluded, which may take many months. This will give a further excuse to SETU to sit on its hands, claiming it can do nothing until all the issues on the site are resolved. It is imperative that the masterplan be concluded and published as soon as possible. The design and composition of the new buildings for the campus should proceed immediately and planning permission lodged with the council. It should be in a position to tender for the buildings as soon as planning permission is received. This will require a specific allocation of funding to the project by the Higher Education Authority from the Department of further and higher education. The Technological Universities Act 2018 was enacted specifically with the SETU in mind. Wexford is a central component of that. We have a facility in Wexford. We need a state-of-the-art new campus to fulfil the aspirations of that.

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