Matt Shanahan: Calls for University to Close South East GDP Gap

Thank you, Caerleach. Taoiseach, I want to thank you and your government for supporting the North Quays project in Waterford. It is a transformative project for the whole of the South East and it might, and I say, might just be the turning point our region has been waiting for. As you are well aware Taoiseach, the South East region is home to just under 10% of our country's population and it has fallen behind the rest of the country. Each year we leave behind 10 billion euro of GDP year on year Taoiseach. My parish's 16 billion euro of GDP should be 26 billion euro economy and might be were it to be like the other university regions of Ireland. The region and indeed the whole country pays a massive social cost for this underperformance. We pay for it in higher unemployment, higher poverty, higher crime rate, less consumption, less services and of course the hidden cost and the loss of our young and the brain drain from the region. In the past few years the South East has rightly detected that government was actively planning and preventing a positive future to emerge in our region. Preventing a university of scale, the North Quays project, our airport expansion, our hospital expansion, the delivery of the M24 all to fulfil the potential of our region. We have seen the transformation of other regions and wondered where is our future Taoiseach. I voted for your government's finance measures, I voted for the spending of 10 billion on capital projects this year. I wish to see transparency and equity in the provision of this money. It is great to see that over the next four years the North Quays will see 25 million a year to support the project. But for those who shout parish pump Taoiseach, never fear because I would say there is not a snowball's chance in hell that we in the South East will see the 890 million allocation or that Waterford is going to see its 2.44% share of that. If recent history is to be any judge. The importance of the North Quays is welcome, but it is not going to close the GDP gap. The measure that will close that gap is higher education. Building a university of substance in the South East equivalent to the capacity and scale of Limerick, Galway and Cork universities. In the programme for government, the South East is singled out, emphasised as the region where the technological university must have it. Yet with 56 million spent on technological universities, universities by government so far, the South East consortium is funded behind the Cork, Dublin and Galway led consortiums. Three regions, Taoiseach, that already have thriving universities. It begs the question, what is your government's commitment to a Waterford led TU capable of transforming the whole South East region in the way the University of Limerick has transformed the Midwest in the last 30 years, for example. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Our region back. Thank you Deputy Shanahan. I thank the Deputy for raising the issue and I think last week's announcement by Minister O'Brien in relation to the urban regeneration and development fund allocation of 80.6 million involving a total package of 110 million with 30 million committed by the Department of Transport is a major shot in the arm to the South East. And it essentially is a game changer in my view for the city and the region. And I think it does demonstrate real intent by the government in terms of delivering on its programme for government commitments for balanced regional development. We do need balanced regional development. It's essential for the overall development of the country because I think it's unbalanced at the moment. And I don't think I believe that the Technological University of the South East is critical to achieve that objective. And I've had discussions with the Deputy and other Deputies from the South East. I think it's extremely important that we facilitate the ongoing discussions that are underway in relation to the establishment of the Technological University for the South East. For the South East because it's anticipated now that an application for TU designation under the Technological Universities Act 2018 will be submitted by the consortium in April or May of next year. And if successful, following all due legal processes, the consortium would anticipate TU establishment, that's a university established by January 2022. And I think that's a significant milestone to work towards, which I do think then would have a knock-on beneficial impact in terms of economic regeneration, economic activity in the South East more generally. And the consortium of IT and the consortium of IT and the Waterford Institute of Technology have been progressing proposals since 2011 now. And I think it's time to really move it forward. I think there's been, as I discussed with you, there's very strong oversight structures now. I think the appointment of Tom Boland, who's highly respected and very experienced, his appointment as Programme Executive Director, I think has given added momentum to the work that's underway. There are 300 staff now involved in the various working groups to get this over the line. And the plan has been developed as a joint governing body steering group for the TU-SEI consortium. And I think it is moving in the right direction. I think also, clearly, there will be capital needs arising in terms of the new entity, the new Technological University. And as a former Minister for Education, having been very involved in both Waterford Institute of Technology at the time in creating the new base that they developed back then in the early 2000s and late 90s, and likewise with Carlow, I can assure you that the government is genuinely very committed to do the right thing here, and to develop the capacity of this technological university as a prime driver of economic activity in the region. There is strong FDI in Waterford, and I think we should use that FDI foreign direct investment base in Waterford to leverage in more inward investment, and more generally across the South East. And I think it's important that we utilize the university as an important leveraging tool when we have discussions with foreign direct investment companies, and multinationals who may wish to come in, but also to provide the research base for our own indigenous companies across the South East, who can use the facilities in Waterford and in Carlow and elsewhere to help local industry. That's the great strength of the Technological University, it's collaboration with industry. Thank you, Taoiseach. Thank you, Taoiseach. And I would note, Jess, we did meet recently to discuss this. I would point out to you Taoiseach that there is a lot of talk on a diffused model for the South East TU, and I think national policy has been to consolidate services. That was the logic behind DIT in Grange-Gorman and UCD in Belfield, but there is no model on earth of a multi-campus diffused university working anywhere. And I think it's very worrying for us in the South East that we are being forced to accept a model of higher education that we know has failed everywhere else. We are being asked to accept consolidation as a means to achieving a regional university status for the highest performing IoT in the country. The people in Cork and Dublin were not asked to suggest any such model Taoiseach. And I have concerns for the primacy of Waterford within this whole TU-led development. So I'm asking you Taoiseach to make sure the government delivers a workable university for Waterford in the South East, which acknowledges Waterford as the gateway and economic driver of the South East region. And within that we need to see reasoned and fair educational modelling. We need to see recognition of the past and future performance of the institutions down there, particularly WIT, which has been completely unresourced over the last 20 years, to be fair. And we need to see our track record in achievement in higher education and servicing of students to be primacy within that configuration. Thank you, Deputy Sherehan, Taoiseach. Well, yeah, my own view is that the unity is strength. And I think the technological university for the South East would have to be seen as that. But I would also say that Waterford has grown extremely well over the last number of decades and has created its own niche, as has Carlow in different faculties. And each Institute of Technology across the country actually has significant strengths. And actually, if you talk to people in industry, they all identify the role of institutes of technology as being critical to their growth and to economic and industrial development in the regions. And I think that's a fact. I mean, if you look at our life sciences in particular, from engineering to instrumentation to lab technicians, they've been superb in the quality of the graduates that emanate from these institutes. I would be very self-confident if I was a Waterford representative, only to Carlow representative, in the quality of the institution and the capacity of that institution to grow and develop. It will need government support. I acknowledge that. It will need government support. And we intend to do that and to deliver that. Thank you, Mr. Taoiseach.