Seanad debates

Wednesday, 8 March 2023

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business

 

10:30 am

Photo of John CumminsJohn Cummins (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Last October, the Higher Education Authority, HEA, launched a call to identify opportunities in the higher education system to build capacity in the areas of dentistry, pharmacy, medicine, nursing and veterinary to respond swiftly to the national skills needs in those areas. The HEA elicited 39 responses from 15 institutions. A number of them were shortlisted to go to phase 2, which is currently being assessed by the HEA. South East Technological University, which is my own university in Waterford, had phase 2 proposals in the areas of pharmacy, veterinary, medicine and nursing. It was fantastic to see that all Oireachtas Members in the south east signed a letter, which I organised, in support of the strong bids for course development in those areas.I believe South East Technological University, SETU, is best placed to expand on its excellent nursing school. It also has fantastic links with Kildalton agricultural college to expand in the area of veterinary and there are also strong industry clusters that would benefit from expansion in the area of pharmacy. I want to record my thanks to the hard-working staff at SETU. They have worked exceptionally hard to put in very strong bids and I wish them well in the coming weeks as the decisions are made.

While we are on the subject of technological universities, I wish to call for a debate on student accommodation. When he was in Waterford on Monday, the Taoiseach met the president and chairperson of SETU. One thing they asked for was that funding be put in place to go beyond the feasibility and business case studies for student accommodation. The technological universities need to be able to borrow and unlock their ability to provide student accommodation. It is of the utmost importance for the technological universities to get to planning stage and it is important they can get their projects shovel ready. A debate on that would be welcome.

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