Ann Ormonde (Fianna Fail)

Tá áthas orm seans á thabhairt dom labhairt leis an Grangegorman Development Agency Bill. I welcome the Minister to the House and congratulate her for being so apt in getting this Bill so quickly through the Houses. I am delighted to have an opportunity to speak on the Bill. The Taoiseach has played a role in this since 2001. Given the vastness and uniqueness of the site, it is important the development agency is set up to monitor the whole project.

Having worked with the City of Dublin VEC as a career guidance teacher for much of my adult working life, part of my job was linking in with third level institutions. As we all know, the City of Dublin VEC was the pioneer for these third level colleges. Having worked in the north inner city, I am aware that many of these programmes were initiated in the second level vocational schools within the city. It goes back a long time but in the 1940s the City of Dublin VEC was under the stewardship of Martin Gleeson. He was one of the key people in the history of the development of the committee. He recognised the importance of bringing students along from second to third level and he spearheaded many of the links between the vocational schools run by the VEC and the third level colleges. I salute that man, who was a visionary.

I was a career guidance counsellor in the mid-1980s, a time of significant unemployment in the north inner city. We pioneered many post-leaving certificate courses, which provided for entry into third level institutions. I had the opportunity to witness how the courses evolved into third level certificate and diploma courses. The model developed naturally following its establishment by the City of Dublin VEC.

The Grangegorman campus will comprise a 73-acre site in the north inner city. I visited primary schools in the area in the mid-1980s. It was bleak, derelict and absolutely dull with no activity taking place. The campus presents a major opportunity to reinvigorate the community and regenerate activity in the area. The new DIT campus will generate significant momentum in the area, given the access that will be provided to local people to education, training and recreational facilities.

Participation by students from the north inner city in third level education has been historically low but the campus will again present a great opportunity to stimulate interest in this regard. Links have been established between vocational schools through post-leaving certificate and other practical courses, which provide a natural path to third level institutions. This campus will enhance higher education on the north side of the River Liffey.

The DIT colleges are spread throughout Dublin city and they offer a large number of courses. The college at Cathal Brugha Street offers various certificates and diplomas relating to the catering and tourism industries while Bolton Street offers apprenticeships, certificates and diplomas relating to the built environment. Kevin Street concentrates on science programmes, which took off in the mid-1980s. However, the colleges are fragmented and very often programmes are duplicated. Students find it difficult to move between colleges as they graduate from certificates to diplomas and so on and the new campus presents a golden opportunity to bring everything under the one roof.

Undergraduates will be enabled to take a greater interest in academic research rather than pursuing research jobs. The intake of students over the past ten years has increased significantly and more efficiency was needed in registration, administration and the duplication of courses and facilities. For example, lighting and heating resulted in large bills. This emphasises the importance of bringing the colleges under one roof.

When the Dublin Institute of Technology was formed in the early 1990s, it placed a strong emphasis on science programmes such as engineering and the built environment. This complemented the Government's strategy, which reflected the importance of economic sustainability. It was important that many science graduates were turned out to meet that challenge and I compliment the DIT colleges in this regard.

Locating all the colleges on the one campus will encourage team work on various complementary research programmes. It is important that resources in this area be maximised. The Grangegorman development agency will be located on a 73-acre site, of which ten acres will be set aside for the Department of Health and Children. It is important that the agency should be overseen and monitored. The Minister referred to the initial cost of getting the agency off the ground and I welcome the role of the National Development Finance Agency in this regard. The current DIT buildings will be disposed of in due course and that will also help to defray the cost of the project.

It is great that St. Brendan's Hospital in Grangegorman will have a local focus and that it will move away from the institutional model of the past. Opportunities will be presented to the health and education sectors to work together and complement each other in providing courses.

The consultation element is vitally important and I am glad the agency will reflect all the stakeholders. The residents, Dublin City Council, Dublin Chamber of Commerce and the management and students of the DIT must have their say in how the campus should move forward. It was often presumed in the past this would happen naturally but halfway through various plans, they were suddenly dropped because somebody objected. The Minister has a golden opportunity, as the agency goes through each stage, to participate in consultation. If she gets that right, there will be no hitches and the campus will be developed quickly.

I welcome that the composition of the agency will reflect all the stakeholders and I am glad a member of the city council will be appointed on behalf of public representatives. However, when public meetings are held, it is important that the agency should alert all public representatives in the area because their ears are to the ground regarding what is what. The agency should be conscious of all stakeholders, regardless of whether they are represented on it. I would like to think this agency would be conscious of the fact that stakeholders are not just members. Much research and spadework must be done on this issue in terms of getting the process off the ground before we can move much further.

Reflecting on this Bill, the Minister has done her homework, there is much detail, the preparation is well done and I do not doubt it will work. Coming from my educational background, I am delighted to have been able to speak on this matter and that it is coming to fruition. I may return to education as a mature student some day for I believe the Dublin Institute of Technology has it all. As the Minister said, it is a centre of excellence and expertise and I want to be around to see the project realised.

This is a great day for the Dublin Institute of Technology and for the north of Dublin. I have no doubt that everybody who is on side will make a great success of this new concept.