State urged to deliver university for south-east

WATERFORD is fortunate to have one of the best Institutes of Technology in the country but it’s not enough, the city’s mayor claims.

As Waterford Institute of Technology director Kieran R Byrne, prepares to make a submission to the Government on the merits of a university for the south-east, city mayor Hilary Quinlan says he will do all in his power to ensure a university is delivered to the region.

“The creation of a university of the south-east is critically important to this region - a point again underlined by Goodbody Economic Consultants in their recent report,” he said.

“Waterford Institute of Technology is very well led and is ready to form the central core of a regional university that will help unlock the potential of this region in the years ahead.

“We hear on an almost daily basis how important research, development and innovation are to Ireland’s future prospects. Yet, the entire south-east region is expected to compete with other Irish regions and overseas’ locations without a university where such work can be undertaken.

“We must compete with the other gateway cities of Galway, Limerick and Cork which each have both institutes of technology and universities, as well as with Dublin which has several colleges operating at both levels.”

He said several economic reports have shown that the south-east lags behind other Irish regions in terms of employment, academic achievement, per capita income and a host of other measures.

“It is hardly a coincidence that this should be so when we must compete with the considerable disadvantage of not having a university in our region. I read recently that one-in-seven school-leavers from the south-east go on to university, compared to one-in-five nationally. This is no surprise but is still a disgrace,” said Mr Quinlan.

“Leaving aside the knock-on impacts and the positive benefit to our future development that having a university here would bring, Goodbody Economic Consultants estimated in their report that if Waterford Institute of Technology were to become a university it would generate some 750 additional direct and indirect jobs. The university would also generate nearly €100 million into the regional economy,” he said.

The mayor urged the public in the entire region to unite to demand delivery from the Government on “a major piece of infrastructure” that he said would cost relatively little to deliver given the foundations that exist at Waterford Institute of Technology.

“A question the Government would do well to consider is what price will ultimately be paid if a regional university is not developed in the south-east,” added Mr Quinlan.