David Cullinane (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State to the House. He will be aware that parts of the Kelly report, which has not been published but has been furnished to the Minister for Education and Skills and brought to the Cabinet, on a technological university for the south east were leaked last week. The belief was that the report was going to be discussed by the Cabinet, but I do not know whether that has happened yet. The report has been a long time in the making and we need to know whether the Minister has received it and brought it to the Cabinet and whether she intends to publish it.

I met Mr. Michael Kelly as part of his consultations. He has carried out wide-ranging consultations across the south east. He has a significant job to do, as this issue is important to the people of the south east, including my city of Waterford. At our meeting, I put it to him that what he and the Government needed to do was verify whether a technical university was possible - in my view, it is - and, if so, to recommend a reasonable timeframe within which to achieve it. He needed to determine whether additional resources would be required. It has been stated that it will take a great deal of resources to achieve a technical university in the south east within a reasonable number of years owing to differences in the situations of the Carlow and Waterford institutes of technology. He also needed to determine how to bring about a unitary vision and get both institutes onto the same page in order to deliver what will be critical infrastructure for the people of the south east.My questions for the Minister are simple. Has the Kelly report been given to the Minister? If it has, when does she intend to publish it? Does Michael Kelly validate a technological university for the south east, does he recommend a timeframe for that, does he recommend additional resources and what recommendations does he make in respect of achieving a unitary vision and a plan that will get us to the point we seek?