University key to revamping region, says PD candidate

A UNIVERSITY for the south east is a key component to the revitalisation of the region, a Dáil hopeful said yesterday.

PDs general election candidate Colm O’Gorman said he believed the upgrading of Waterford Institute of Technology was vital for his constituency of Wexford.

He pledged to work towards the establishment of a university in the south east.

“I am working to ensure the PDs election manifesto includes a proposal for a university for the region by upgrading Waterford Institute of Technology with sister campuses in Wexford, Kilkenny and Carlow.

“It is time that those living in our county were able to work and study in Wexford, rather than being forced to leave for a job or university place elsewhere. Wexford and its people deserve no less.”

Speaking today as his party’s deputy leader Liz O’Donnell launched a constituency-wide billboard campaign in Wexford Town, the PD Dáil candidate said he believed the upgrading of the Waterford Institute of Technology to the University of the South East was a vital component to the revitalisation of County Wexford.

He claimed: “Co Wexford has one of the lowest levels of uptake of third level education in Ireland. I believe that the absence of a university in the region is a significant impediment to the economic and social development of Wexford. I would be very hopeful that our party manifesto could include my university plan. I pledge to pursue it vigorously.

“Apart from the immediate benefit of allowing our young people to study close to home, it is also clear that this development would also attract investment and generate jobs. I believe that it would, in time, enable the south east to act as a counterbalance to the ever-expanding greater Dublin region.

“It is time that politics began to focus on the difficulties our county faces. It is time that action replaced promises and ideas replaced complacency. Wexford has been let down by politics over the past 30 years. The county has fallen behind other regions which benefited from stronger representation.”

Wexford has one of the lowest levels of disposal incomes in the country as well as one of the lowest levels of job creation through direct inward investment.

“Politics in Wexford must change,” he declared.