Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The reason I have appointed Mr. Kelly is because the project had gone off the rails and Waterford pulled out of the process. What I want Mr. Kelly to do is not just to consult but to come up with a plan as to how we move forward and to come up with it quickly.

I want him to get the two institutions focusing on what this technological university will be like, what services it will deliver to the people of the south east rather than focus on the problems with a merger between two institutions, on which unfortunately a lot of time has been spent. They must see the bigger picture in terms of what they are creating together. That is what the other two regions have been doing. The south east needs a technological university even more so than the other two regions. We need the south east to be focusing on what it is achieving. Mr. Kelly has been able to do this with DIT, Blanchardstown and Tallaght, three different institutions. He has been doing very good work with them and I want him to do the same work in the south east.

I did have a meeting with both the chairman and the president of Waterford Institute of Technology and Carlow Institute of Technology on the same day. I had previously met with the Waterford president but not with Dr. Ormonde, as it was the deputy chairman who was there at that time. I do not know whether my conversation with him influenced his decision but I did have a conversation and that is in the public arena. I met with the president and chairman of the boards of Waterford and Carlow ITs. My understanding is that he felt that he had brought the process to a certain point and he had put in a great deal of work over the years and it was time for somebody else to lead in that regard.

I am very committed to this project. I want Mr. Kelly to deliver a viable plan to me and I want to see people in the region getting what Senator Cullinane has said, is the prize. It is for the people of the region, not either of the two institutions, to have a university. The people have campaigned for a long period for it and they deserve it.