Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Senator Cullinane for raising this matter as it gives me the opportunity to outline to the House the current position regarding the technological university for the south east on behalf of the Minister, Deputy Jan O'Sullivan.

As the Senator will be aware, the national strategy for higher education to 2030, published in January 2011, recommended the consolidation of the institute of technology sector and the creation of a small number of multi-campus technological universities. The process for designation as a technological university consists of four stages and requires the merger of two or more institutes of technology prior to application for designation as a technological university, TU.

The TU for the south east project was initiated in 2011 and consists of a consortium of two institutes of technology, the Institute of Technology Carlow, ITC, and Waterford Institute of Technology, WIT. The TU south east consortium made good progress initially and submitted a stage 1 expression of interest in 2012. However, following this initial promising start, the consortium encountered a series of challenges and difficulties and did not succeed in finalising a stage 2 plan prior to the decision by WIT to suspend merger activities in October 2014.

Following meetings with both institutes in early November 2014, the Minister, Deputy Jan O'Sullivan, announced the establishment of a new process of engagement and consultation with the governing bodies, staff and students of both institutes, together with the wider community in the south east. The Minister appointed Mr. Michael Kelly to lead the process of consultation. While a ten week timeframe was initially set for the process to be completed, the timeframe to completion was extended due to a number of factors, including the change in governing authorities of both institutions at the end of quarter one in 2015.

The Minister recently met with Mr. Kelly and received his report on the outcome of the engagement and consultation process, which answers one of the Senator's questions. Mr Kelly has undertaken a very thorough and extensive consultation process with regional stakeholders on this important issue. He has met with stakeholders in all of the counties of the region in the past few months. This includes local authorities, chambers of commerce, employers, the enterprise development agencies, social and community groups as well as public representatives. I assume Senator Cullinane was one of them.