Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I share the Senator's ambition on that. This is a high-priority project. It will involve me, at a point in time, needing to engage with my colleague in the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform. One way or another we need to bring finality to this and I think everybody shares that view.

Can I just say that a couple of people, or maybe a few more than a couple, in Waterford have doubted us a few times on this university, so let us look at their record today. First, they said there will never be a university in the south east. Wrong. Next, they said we would not attract great calibre of leadership. Wrong. We attracted the former bursar of Trinity College Dublin to be its first president and who is an exceptional academic and leader. We attracted the former provost of Trinity to head up the governing authority. Third, they said we would never acquire the Waterford Crystal site and today, they are wrong again. I am looking forward to proving them wrong for the fourth time when we deliver this engineering block as well. Today is a really good day for Waterford and for the south east. God knows, the people of Waterford and the south east have waited long enough. They deserve this. They deserve and need a university of scale, and Senator Cummins, with his Government colleagues in Waterford and his tireless work have delivered that for them.