Paul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael)
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86. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the status of the Wexford campus for the Technological University of the South-East; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26938/21]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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The IT Carlow Wexford campus has been in operation since 1995 and it is planned that it will become a campus of the future Technological University for the South East.

The campus has grown to accommodate 1,000 learners across disciplines including agriculture, business, education, social care, tourism and event management, art and design. There are 27 full-time staff and 61 part-time staff currently accommodated at the campus, with 15 full-time programmes and 53 part-time programmes offered to learners.

The current facilities in which the Wexford campus is based consist of two separate rented sites and offer little opportunity for expansion. There has therefore been a long term ambition to secure a more suitable site for the campus, an objective I strongly support.

I have discussed this issue with IT Carlow directly, and officials from my Department and the Higher Education Authority also have extensive ongoing engagement with IT Carlow on the issue. The Deputy will appreciate that the details involving any potential site acquisition must remain commercially sensitive; however, I can assure the Deputy that the acquisition of a suitable site for the Wexford campus remains a high priority for me and for my Department.

More broadly, it is a priority for my Department to support higher education institutions in their critical role as drivers of social and economic development in their regions. Within this overall context, the creation of Technological Universities represents a radical reconfiguration of the higher education landscape, which will deliver significant benefits for regional development.