Matt Shanahan (Waterford, Independent)
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1308. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if he will provide a schedule of each project, description and funding he identified as having being already allocated a variety of projects in the south east as part of the technological university in his Dáil Éireann statement on 10 March 2021 (details supplied) in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19231/21]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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I am strongly committed to capital investment in the proposed technological university for the South East. Officials from my Department and the Higher Education Authority are in ongoing engagement with both Waterford Institute of Technology and Institute of Technology Carlow in relation to campus development plans across all proposed TU locations, including Wexford.

It is planned that over the lifetime of the National Development Plan substantial investment will be required across various locations to address under investment in facilities. This investment includes the vision of a larger campus footprint in the South East, including in Waterford, and provision of fit for purpose spaces to address skills and demographic demand issues.

A key recommendation of the 2019 Technological University Research Network (TURN) report which sets out the blueprint and requirements for successful TUs in the State, is the prioritisation of capital investment in TUs where they are exclusively dependent on Exchequer resourcing. Capital investment has been and will be associated with ongoing technological university progression.

Currently eleven building projects in the technological sector are being advanced as part of the Higher Education Public Private Partnership (PPP) Programme. The projects will play an important role in enabling projected increases in student enrolments, addressing severe constraints with regard to existing infrastructure and advancing the TU agenda. The programme will deliver some 70,000 square metres of additional space, generating an additional 8,000 student places, mainly in STEM-related areas.

Both Waterford Institute of Technology and Institute of Technology Carlow have significant capital projects within Bundle 2 of the Higher Education PPP Programme. In the case of WIT this is a new Engineering, Computing and General Teaching building to be located on the Cork Road campus. This is the largest project in the PPP programme and will be a flagship STEM related building targeting key skills areas such as engineering, architecture and computing. The building will also consolidate a number of faculties into one space. This will enable the cross pollination of concepts and ideas that are key to future innovation. The PPP programme also provides for the delivery of a new Science and Health Building in IT Carlow of over 6,000 square metres which will consist of science laboratories, learning resource, administration and ancillary spaces and will increase capacity for some 500 students across the campus.

The cost estimates in relation to the PPP Programme and any other projects, including new sites, which are in procurement or pre-procurement are commercially sensitive. I can assure the Deputy of my commitment to meaningful capital investment to underpin the ambitions of TUSE.