Paschal Donohoe (Fine Gael)

I thank the Minister of State for attending to respond to this matter. It concerns the status of the Grangegorman development project, the DIT site on the northside of Dublin. It is a project that has been in planning for many years. Its aim is to have all DIT facilities across Dublin located on a single piece of land. At present, that piece of land is occupied by St. Brendan's Hospital. Bringing all of the facilities together will deliver greater efficiency to the way the DIT is run and will allow the various units and parts of the DIT to work better together.

This is a very exciting project for my part of Dublin. Not only does it offer an opportunity for a very successful and large third level institute to be located in the heart of it, but at a time when we are so desperately looking for innovation, ways to commercialise new ideas and new ways to employ people, the work the DIT is doing offers a very exciting vision as to how that can be done. One of the many things it seeks to do is to provide training for the array of skills necessary for our entire economy to do well. One can get training and education in the DIT for everything from nanotechnology to a trade. Bringing all of the services and facilities together on one site offers an opportunity for it to become more of a dynamo for the development of Dublin's economy, for businesses to work side by side with that facility and for people who work in Dublin to access exciting new educational opportunities. This is everything the Government speaks about when discussing moving our economy and society forward. This is a golden opportunity.

Many rumours are now circulating, some of which were started by statements in the McCarthy report, that this project might be put on ice. There are rumours about the status of the Grangegorman Development Agency. All I care about is this project which will have such an ability to contribute to our economy and all of Dublin. It is a living example of what the smart economy could look like. I am looking for an update from the Minister of State and a guarantee from the Government that this very important project will go ahead in the near future.