John Cummins (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister to the House for this Commencement debate on two critically important projects for South East Technological University, SETU; namely, the acquisition of the former Waterford Crystal site, and the completion of the public private partnership, PPP, process for bundle 2 which will see a 12,000 sq. m engineering computing and general teaching building built on the Cork Road campus.

When I submitted this Commencement matter, I did not know that the Minister was going to formally write to me yesterday evening and issue a statement this morning confirming the approval of the purchase of the 20.3 acre former Waterford Crystal site. This Commencement matter, therefore, has been overtaken by events. Given that the Minister issued a formal statement at 9 a.m. this morning, I wish to formally record my thanks and appreciation to the Minister, his staff and his officials for the work they have done to arrive at this point. Today is a very positive day for our new university. I believe this is a strong statement of intent by the Government. It will future-proof the growth of SETU in Waterford city. Over time, it will regenerate one of the most strategically located brownfield sites in the region, a site which once employed thousands of people. To be able to repurpose that site now to educate and accommodate the next generation of young workers in industry is very important from a practical and symbolic point of view. I suggest the motives of those who dismiss the acquisition as anything other than a positive move have to be seriously called into question.

The Minister will agree with me that the various stages and the due diligence have been extensive and at times painstaking. I get that when a State is buying an asset, all processes have to be followed to a T but there is probably room to streamline those processes because it may not always be the case that there is a seller on the other side who is as patient as the vendor has been in this case. I am aware that the SETU president, Professor Veronica Campbell, along with Mr. Noel Frisby and the Irish Strategic Investment Fund, have very ambitious plans for a university innovation and enterprise quarter which they are very much looking forward to setting out in the next fortnight during the formal contract signing. I ask the Minister for early engagement by his Department in the design of the first building on the site and to ensure continued engagement from his officials about possible earlier delivery by bringing the former showrooms and offices on the Waterford Crystal site back into productive use for SETU in a much quicker fashion by using innovative ways to do that.

I wish to turn my attention briefly to the higher education bundle 2 PPP process, which encompasses five higher and further education buildings. The Waterford project is the largest in both bundle 1 and 2 with a 12,000 sq. m engineering, computer and general teaching building for the Cork Road campus. As the Minister will know, this project received planning permission in November 2019 and went into the PPP process in 2020. Both of those bundles have been very slow in moving. Bundle 1 had been moving about six months ahead of bundle 2 and that has now slipped to ten months. I understand the reasons behind this - the fact that just one consortium was left in the process, the very significant construction inflation and the need to ensure value for money for the State - but I firmly believe the process needs to be brought to a conclusion without any further delay. I would appreciate the Minister's comments on that.