Alan Dillon (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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104. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if he will provide an update surrounding recent announcements on the new further education and training, FET, colleges of the future; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [59840/22]

Alan Dillon (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Will the Minister provide an update on the recent announcements around the new FET colleges of the future?

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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I am always delighted to provide Deputy Dillon with an update but I do not have a huge amount of an update since we last met on Monday in Castlebar. That was a good day and we had the clear decision that Castlebar, County Mayo, will be the home of a new further education college of the future, which we call a FET college of the future. What that means to people in Castlebar and Mayo is that this is one of the ten locations throughout the country that will be developed as a major hub of FET. I was pleased to be in Castlebar and I commend Michael Murphy, the principal of Mayo College of Further Education and Training, the CEO of Mayo, Sligo and Leitrim Education and Training Board, the director of further education, and all those working so hard in the ETB.

There is great stuff going on in Castlebar in grossly inadequate facilities. That is clear and I saw that when we visited a number of months ago. I thank and congratulate the ETB for putting in a good submission and being chosen as one of the ten FET colleges of the future. This will mean a variety of things. It will effectively mean there will be better and more modern conditions for FET in Castlebar in Mayo and that the Castlebar campus of Mayo College of Further Education and Training can lead on a number of new apprenticeship programmes. Programmes are being developed in the area of cybersecurity, digital media and immersive technologies, and I am looking forward to the ETB, SOLAS and my Department working intensively to take this project forward.

These are massive projects and they are not ones that are delivered quickly. I have been clear about that and I was clear about that in Mayo the other day. However, they are projects that, when in place, will transform the offering for FET. When you look at Castlebar and the fact that you have the university campus, the Atlantic Technological University, ATU, coupled with what will be a state-of-the-art FET college and facility, that will be quite an ecosystem for meeting the skills needs of Castlebar and the north west.

Alan Dillon (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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I publicly thank the Minister for coming to Castlebar earlier this week to deliver the fantastic news on the Mayo College of Further Education and Training. This will be a multimillion euro project for County Mayo and Castlebar. It will strengthen our appeal in the future economic outlook and will invest in FET. This significant capital investment will transform that campus. We have an excellent team under Mayo, Sligo and Leitrim ETB, and its executive management is passionate about delivering the best of courses that are of high quality in areas such as digital media, cybersecurity and immersive technology. These are the technologies of the future and we want to be at the forefront of this. I welcome the centre of excellence that will be established under the FET model in Castlebar. I understand the next stage is to proceed to the preliminary business case. I ask the Minister for a timeline on the development of this in the weeks and months ahead.

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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The first ten locations are in the process of being announced. We are up to about five or six locations and all ten will have been announced within the next week. What then has to happen is all ten need to work intensively with SOLAS, their ETB and my Department to prepare the next phase. These are multimillion euro projects and this is a scale of investment in FET we simply have not seen before. We need to be sure they can be compliant with public spending codes and we need to tease through the detail of the proposals they have submitted. I would imagine that a lot of 2023 will be taken up with that sort of work, including planning, preparation and compliance with public spending codes. The exact pace of development for each of them will depend on how much work is done on the ground locally and on how quickly that is done. I say that while being conscious - and they reminded us of this on Monday - that a lot of work has already been done on this in Castlebar. Which of the ten projects moves first and the pace at which they move will remain dependent on that level of work.

Alan Dillon (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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We have Mayo College of Further Education and Training progressing with this capital development on the back of the establishment of the ATU in Mayo, which is designated for Castlebar. We are offering postgraduate courses with other disciplines, ranging from outdoor education to, as we mentioned previously, digital media and cybersecurity. This means there is a university campus along with an FET college. We have approximately 900 students in the university and we have up to 700 students in the FET college.

We have a severe shortage of student accommodation. What plans are in place to develop accommodation for students in cities and towns like Castlebar into the future? Would the Minister be willing to work with the management of the ATU in Castlebar and Mayo College of Further Education and Training to provide solutions to this difficult problem for our young people? I know an application will be submitted from the management of the ATU and Mayo County Council on the military barracks. This would be an important step forward in a solution to the shortage of student accommodation.

Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein)
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I was delighted to see the Minister in Mayo on Monday. As the Minister did, I commend and acknowledge all the work that has been done there by the project team, particularly by Michael Murphy and Tom Grady from Mayo, Sligo and Leitrim ETB. They have wanted this and worked on it for so many years and it is a long-term project. I was also delighted to see Paddy McGuinness there, who has done so much for further education in Mayo. In the original Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology and everything else, he was a real visionary in his time and I know he got satisfaction from that. I am concerned about the timelines and I am also concerned about people's expectations when announcements are made and when people think it is going to happen. We are probably realistically talking about a five to six-year project. I cannot see students being on the seats in there before 2027. However, it is a start and it shows intent on what needs to happen and what can happen with the ATU in Castlebar as well.

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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I am not in any way concerned about the timelines but it is important to be upfront and blunt about them, which I have been in every visit I have made to a location that has been chosen as an FET college of the future. These are multi-year projects. I cannot say whether it will be four, five or six years but that is the range of years we are talking about. People in Castlebar and Mayo will see progress and there will be an ability to provide regular updates and the like. I, too, pay tribute to Paddy McGuinness who has returned to college and is undertaking a course there.

Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein)
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He has.

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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I send him all our best wishes. On student accommodation, I spoke to the president of the ATU, Orla Flynn, and the chair of the governing authority, Maura McNally, on this as recently as Monday. Before I was in Castlebar I met them in Galway. It is clear as a result of the Government decision yesterday that technological universities can and should prepare to submit plans for student accommodation in 2023. On Tuesday we allocated €1 million to the technological universities to bring in the capacity for any expertise they may need to develop those plans. I look forward to receiving an application from the ATU in 2023 for student accommodation.