David Cullinane (Sinn Fein)
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I welcome the Minister to the House to take this Adjournment matter and thank her for taking it because I am sure she knows it is a very important issue for the people of Waterford and the entire south east.

I am an enthusiastic supporter of a multi-campus technological university for the south east. I want to say that at the outset. I have always fully supported the process. I fully supported the benchmarking and the very strict criteria which have been set for both institutes. If we are to get a university in the south east, and we need one as quickly as possible, it has to be one that reaches the very highest standards, acts as a proper university and takes it place as one of the top performing universities on the island. Therefore, I fully support the benchmarking which has been set. I am also conscious that from the very start of this process there have been people - described within the south east as dark forces - within the Department, within the Higher Education Authority, HEA, within the academic world and possibly even within both institutes who have never wanted this to happen, who are precious about the existing universities and who do not want a new university in the south east. Perhaps that is partly responsible for the mess we are now in, given what happened over recent weeks with the withdrawal from the process of Waterford Institute of Technology, WIT and, a couple of days ago, the resignation of the chairperson of the board. There is no doubt that academic politics are part of what is happening here. The simple reality is this messing has to stop.

We must have a process that works and delivers, and we cannot continue with the educational apartheid we have on this island and in this State, where the south east is without a university. The Government must intervene and ensure this process stays on track, that the ship is steadied, that we stay the course and that we deliver for each and every one of the students of the south east. This is far too serious an issue for anyone to play political games. I am fully behind the process and the multi-campus technological university, but I am not behind the games that are being played. I am not behind what I see in some parts of the process as a flaw. There seem to be mixed messages from both institutes on whether they can meet the criteria. There are genuine concerns that the process is being held back because of that. That must be dealt with. We have to be open and honest with people in terms of where the process is at. I am told by a person in Waterford Institute of Technology that the process could take five years, ten years or even 20 years if it is not varied or if we do not see a change of the phasing or of the legislation to enable the multi-campus university to come about much sooner.

I have a number of questions for the Minister. Why are we so obsessed with a process that clearly is not working? I accept most of the process and the very high benchmarks. It is clear, however, that the process has not worked up to now. Perhaps the Minister will be able to tell us why that is the case. Why are we not prepared to change it? Why is full university status not being looked at for Waterford and the south east? That question is being asked of me as a public representative and I am sure of all the public representatives. I also have a very direct, blunt question to the Minister about the resignation of the chairperson. Did the Minister ask the chairperson to resign or did he resign voluntarily? That is an important question because there are a lot of rumours going around Waterford and the south east. The Minister is best placed to answer that and to set the record straight. It is a very honest, direct question to the Minister on why that chairperson resigned and if there was any political interference in his decision-making on that. Will the Minister answer those questions directly and will she set out what she, as Minister, is doing to ensure this process stays on track? What is the likely timeframe? That is probably the critical question people will be asking themselves. When will this be delivered? We have jumped through so many hoops and over so many hurdles. People have an entitlement to know the answer to that question as well.

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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I thank Senator Cullinane for raising this issue. It is a high priority for the Government. We are implementing a higher education reform programme that will significantly enhance the quality of higher education for our country and our region. I welcome Senator Cullinane's support for the process. There are no dark forces at work or games being played on this issue within the Department and the chairperson decided himself to resign. I acknowledge fully the work he has done over the years but he felt it was appropriate that someone else would carry the baton, as it were, from this point on.

There is not some kind of status difference between a technological university and the universities currently in existence. They are all equally universities. It is full university status that is being worked towards. An important element of the programme of reform is the consolidation of the technological sector, helping to create new multi-campus technological universities of significant scale and strength, where merging groups of institutes reach a high performance bar before attaining this new status. Three consortiums are currently engaged in that process. Two of them, in Dublin and Munster, are significantly advanced and submitted detailed merger plans to the HEA earlier this summer. This Government is committed to the creation of a multi-campus technological university for the south east as outlined in the programme for Government. The process and criteria to attain this new status were published in early 2012. It appeared that, until recently, both institutions were committed to delivering a business plan for their joint future by the end of this year.

As the Senator is aware, in recent weeks Waterford IT unilaterally announced that it was suspending moves towards a merger with IT Carlow, which could lead to the creation of a technological university in the south east. This development is regrettable and I am taking immediate steps to ensure that momentum is re-established and that the south east region can benefit from the economic and social dividend which I believe the technological university model can deliver.

I announced yesterday a new process to reinvigorate the project of a technological university for the south east. I have appointed Mr. Michael Kelly to lead a process of consultation with the governing bodies, staff and students in Waterford Institute of Technology and Carlow Institute of Technology in order to develop a shared vision for a technological university in the south east. As a former chairman of the Higher Education Authority, Mr. Kelly is very well known within the sector. He has also played a leading role chairing the consortium which is seeking to establish a technological university in the Dublin region and has an in-depth knowledge of what is needed to create such an institution. Mr. Kelly will also be asked to report on the best structure to implement the project and the potential timescale. He will report to me in early January.

I have also requested that Mr. Kelly broaden the consultation to ensure that the voice of other social and economic partners in the south east feed into the process. That would include Senator Cullinane, as a representative for the area. We firmly believe that multi-campus technological universities will make a positive contribution to third level education in Ireland and to the regions.

The Senator asked me about the timeframe. I am expecting Mr. Kelly will be able to give me a potential timescale in early January, but this process has to get back on track. Mr. Kelly has a relatively short timeframe in which he has to report and then we will move forward with the process. One of the reasons it has taken so long is because there have been problems between the two institutions. We have to get them together, working on the same track. There is no reason that Waterford and the south east cannot have a university in a relatively short space of time. I cannot give Senator Cullinane an exact timescale at this stage.

David Cullinane (Sinn Fein)
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I have a number of brief supplementary questions. Why is there a need for a new consultation process? We have had consultation after consultation on this issue for decades. We have an institute of technology in Waterford which is operating almost as a university and that has been recognised. The reason for a new consultation process is because the process has developed into a mess. It is unfair and simplistic to characterise the problem as differences within both institutes. There are dark forces within the Higher Education Authority and in the academic world, which were against it from the outset. If anybody does not believe that, their heads are in the sand. It is part of the problem but not the only problem.

I asked about the resignation of the chairman of WIT, and this is a very important question, and I put it to the Minister again, whether she had a conversation with the outgoing chairman before he resigned. Did she have a conversation with him about his stance on this issue and did that conversation influence his decision to resign as the chairman of the board? I think the people of Waterford will be less interested in those issues and more interested in the timeframe. I appreciate that the Minister states that she cannot give me that information today, but the people of the south east need to be given confidence that not only is the process back on track but it will be delivered and we will end the education apartheid in the south east.

This is about the students. It is not about the Minister or me, but the young people of the south east who deserve to have educational opportunities as anybody else has. The Minister is best placed to make that a reality. Of course, the institutes have to play their part as does the Higher Education Authority, the Department of Education and Skills and the senior officials involved. I appeal to the Minister to make it happen by doing everything possible to make this happen.

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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The reason I have appointed Mr. Kelly is because the project had gone off the rails and Waterford pulled out of the process. What I want Mr. Kelly to do is not just to consult but to come up with a plan as to how we move forward and to come up with it quickly.

I want him to get the two institutions focusing on what this technological university will be like, what services it will deliver to the people of the south east rather than focus on the problems with a merger between two institutions, on which unfortunately a lot of time has been spent. They must see the bigger picture in terms of what they are creating together. That is what the other two regions have been doing. The south east needs a technological university even more so than the other two regions. We need the south east to be focusing on what it is achieving. Mr. Kelly has been able to do this with DIT, Blanchardstown and Tallaght, three different institutions. He has been doing very good work with them and I want him to do the same work in the south east.

I did have a meeting with both the chairman and the president of Waterford Institute of Technology and Carlow Institute of Technology on the same day. I had previously met with the Waterford president but not with Dr. Ormonde, as it was the deputy chairman who was there at that time. I do not know whether my conversation with him influenced his decision but I did have a conversation and that is in the public arena. I met with the president and chairman of the boards of Waterford and Carlow ITs. My understanding is that he felt that he had brought the process to a certain point and he had put in a great deal of work over the years and it was time for somebody else to lead in that regard.

I am very committed to this project. I want Mr. Kelly to deliver a viable plan to me and I want to see people in the region getting what Senator Cullinane has said, is the prize. It is for the people of the region, not either of the two institutions, to have a university. The people have campaigned for a long period for it and they deserve it.

Paschal Mooney (Fianna Fail)
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Is the Minister, Deputy O'Sullivan, taking the next matter?

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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No. The Minister of State at the Department of Health is taking it

Paschal Mooney (Fianna Fail)
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Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stait