Waterford University discussion

John Cummins is particularly disgraceful in his behaviour relating to TUSE. He has been persistently disingenuous by referring to it a university. Pushing the lie a full university has been achieved.

Much as I would like to see what he has proposed happen I think that ship has sailed and there is no political appetite for a University of Waterford from any party including Sinn Fein. The chance was there in the mid 2000's and we came really close but as he said in the interview local politics nobbled it.

A weeping willow would be fitting.

Who was he talking about; Phil Hogan? Brendan Howlin?

The quote (Wexford People I think) from a Labour mayor of Wexford 'if Waterford gets this university, Wexford is finished" might have some relevance to Mr Howlin?

Here is the direct link:

https://www.rte.ie/news/player/2014/1104/20676106-ministerial-meddling-blamed-for-failure-to-secure-university-for-southeast/

Just watch the Prime Time video.

Jesus wept, I just watched again. Apart from Halligan being utterly inarticulate and unable to make the case for Waterford coherently, that Trinners ex-Provost, Prof. Michael Marsh, is one condescending gobshite. He talks about a Uni for Waterford like a bit of dirt on his shoe. I thought his eyebrows were actually going to leave his head and fly away at the sheer insolence of the idea. He deserved a slap.

Mods this can be moved to the conspiracy theory forum now...

Also can you take "Waterford" out of the thread title.

😉

Is it a conspiracy? Let's take recent developments.

Two independent reports stated WIT should be granted University status, ignored by government and pushed through with SETU which had massive political influence.

A cardiac care 24/7 flawed report which states Waterford should not have cardiac care 24/7 was stated by government "there is no way we could go against an independent report"

Waterford boundary extension stated Waterford should extend it's boundary into south Kilkenny for the benefit of the area, ignored by government.

4 reports above, 3 which favoured Waterford were ignored and brushed aside, one report didn't favour Waterford and the government stood their ground on it.

Now regionally, the south east is an unusual area as it has a fair number of large towns who all have their own ambitions, these towns can not pull from each other and naturally look towards Waterford to see what they can get.

SETU has been a prime example of that, the break up of the South Eastern Health board another great example, relocating the VEC to Wexford another fine example, and moving the Garda HQ to Kilkenny another example (thankfully public and political uproar prevented that).

The south east is extremely parochial and everyone is our for their own patch, and areas smaller than Waterford will naturally try to undermine Waterford in order to obtain services for their own parish, therefore I don't think it is a conspiracy but a fact if life.

The south east needed a stand alone Uni and a TU.

Waterford as a stand alone Uni with a sub campus in Kilkenny.

Carlow, dun laoghaire and Dundalk (as three of those would have been required to form a TU, as Carlow doesn't have the research capacity) as some East Coast TU.

Heck even the new SETU president said in a recent interview "I wouldn't like to see willy nilly campuses created across Waterford City as there is value in consolidation" how ironic when SETU is going to spread across possibly 5 counties, where is the consolidation there?

The whole TU was born out of the last recession, merging institutions as a cost cutting exercise but now government are trying to sell it as something more.

I can't see how DKIT or IDAT can set themselves apart as I don't see a massive difference in the philosophy of an IoT and TU, they are selling it the same as they were IoTs, regional development based around regional industry needs bla bla bla.

I reckon we'll see some cross border TU established with DKIT and IDAT, HEA won't want a three tier system

Taking Waterford out of the name is a disgrace.

Any news on the crystal site? All seems very quiet the past few months, we were told an announcement was imminent.

I see Harris has been busy announcing funding for further education colleges, expansion in ETB Cork, MTU, a new €40 million etb campus in Kilkenny for 5k students. TUS to develop a college of further education in Thurles.

Money seems plentiful

Isn't that just for a new college of further education campus, similar to WCFE on Parnell Street? Nothing to do with SETU I think? I wouldn't begrudge anyone a college of further education, there should be one in every county town.

A SETU campus is a different thing though and should be centralised in Waterford.

Yep think it was mentioned earlier in the thread the President of SETU stated the minimum investment needed is new engineering building + €250m in capital investment for student accom and other facilities.

Engineering building is due to start next year which is great but where's the announcement on the other €250m of investment needed? I believe there's separate budgets for ETB/Further Education and Technological Universities so I don't think the €40m investment in KK above will take from the pot of funds available to SETU but we still need to see progress soon in Waterford & Carlow. And not just announcements from the pulpit by Harris, real progress is needed like site purchases, planning applications etc.

Its quite amazing to have an almost out of body experience and watch yourself being toasted on a rotisserie for the benefit of others. Waterford city , which led the university campaign for nearly a century is being dissected, post roasting, as we look on, by regional political interests. Fine Gael and all who walk in that shadow are a despicable bunch. How long has the proposed engineering building been on the go? Will it ever be built, that is now the question? How long has the expanded footprint and purchase of the glass site been on the go? Will it ever be bought, that is the next question? How long has it been since anything has been delivered to WIT except a name change to SETU which increasingly looks like camouflage for other agendas? By their deeds shall ye know them! And by heck, we know them all too well.

We all knew this was going to happen, Waterford assets have traditionally been dissected by regional parish pump politics, IMHO they should never have engaged and left carlow to their own device's.

Only change I can see is the signage its the same with the hospital, fancy sign same lack of funding.

The PR is unreal, even the interview on KCLR the other day, the presenter was practically applauding the "large uptake in students from the SE attending this new university SETU", which was echoed by Harris saying something along the lines of how proud he is to see so many from the region now staying in the region for education.

This was no difference to 6 months ago when WIT and ITC would have had a large portion of people from the SE attending both institutes.

It is actually mind blowing to see our representatives cheerleading this, I can not fathom it.

We constantly hear, "region, region, region" and sound bites such as "Waterford is the driver of the region no doubt about it"

A strong case could have been to create the TU (not what we want) have named it, Waterford TU or TU Waterford with campuses in Carlow with the HQ in Waterford, a Waterford TU still delivering for the region.

While this wouldn't have been what we wanted, retaining the name Waterford and HQ undoubtedly would have ensured we were still drivers of our own ambitions but now as SETU, it will constantly be which politicians are flavour of the month ensuring any funding will be landed to their own parish.

Also politicians in neighbouring counties surely couldn't have complained as the government would still have delivered a "regional" TU but ensuring Waterford was the driver, I have no doubt there would have been uproar from neighbouring counties.

Unfortunately our dummies here are too weak, and fall for this regional none sense, and not realising that the "region" only exists when neighbouring counties can pull from Waterford.

Yep I agree, this was the argument by our local representatives, the whole "the HQ has to be in Waterford", "we have been promised the HQ", "It's only right the HQ is in Waterford"

It will be interesting now to hear them backtrack and toe the line of SETU president about "why do we need a HQ", they will shift focus now and start saying "the HQ isn't important, it's the funding that is important" and then when that doesn't come, more waffle.

Rather than just admitting "we fucked up"

Agreed wholeheartly - SF & David Cullinane will suffer for their stance on this - they are meant to be an "Opposition" party with differing views, but the way they rowed in behind the government parties on this and other issue is nauseating