Waterford University discussion

and that is the problem with party politics and their Waterford TDs - always looking out for other counties and not their own constituency and electorate

Contracts signed on 6 Capital projects for 3rd level education today.

"The buildings, which are being delivered by Public Private Partnership (PPP), will cost approximately €250 million ex VAT to construct. They are located in the Technological University Dublin (TU Dublin) Tallaght and Blanchardstown campuses;

Munster Technological University (MTU) campuses in Cork and Tralee,

the Athlone campus of Technological University of the Shannon (TUS) and in the Institute of Art, Design and Technology (IADT), Dún Laoghaire."

When all 6 are complete it will provide an extra 5k student spaces. That gives me zero hope in a SETU campus in Waterford of ever having 20k student's.

No surprise SETU isn't in the list either, new eng building rumbles on into next year! 15 years and waiting!

Wexford CPO site gets the green light by the looks of things

https://twitter.com/cllrglawlor/status/1613069732961484800?t=-uAilyjt1qj223Vw-XpoFA&s=19

The Wexford campus has been a financial drain on IT Carlow since it was set it, the student numbers don't cover the cost of running it. Thats why Carlow have dragged their feet on a new campus for the last 5 years and now SETU will be saddled with the same problem going forward. I talked to a staff member from Carlow recently and the undergrad programs in Wexford are considered a joke internally with lecturers on full pay teaching 3 or 4 students in a class.

The money ringfenced for Wexford should be spent on the big campuses in Carlow and Waterford and the Wexford undergraduate programmes wound down and provide adult ed and springboard services there. We have seen in time and time again undergraduate programs don't work in small regional town campuses, undergraduate students want the big campus experience and the facilities that go with that.

But of course, millions will be spent on this white elephant to fulfil the delusions of grandeur of the Wexford local politicians and councillors.

Waterford should never have agreed to this debacle. Should have rejected it outright and left Carlow go alone.

University status for Waterford is gone finished never to be obtained, the "real" University's must be having some laugh at this mess.

We get what we vote for, only politician who made some noise was matt shanahan rest just toe the party line.

Useless shower that they are.

The Cork Road Campus really looks like it needs an upgrade. There's like a field surrounded by rusty fences there (Is this for the engineering building?)

Its hard to believe it until you see it written down in black and white like this. 14 years later and still no action.

I was in Limerick regularly with work before the pandemic and often went to UL campus. Fourteen new buildings probably appeared there in the same period in an incredible spurt of development, versus none at all in WIT over the same period . What Fine Gael politics and its ministerial leadership have done to Waterford on this is actually hard to believe, in a supposedly developed European country. Its beyond politics, with still no sign of any delivery either of the engineering building or the Waterford Glass site. Historically, it will be viewed as a deliberate, conscious and active suppression of Waterford city by Fine Gael and will taint them forever.

How does the Waterford young pretender canvas for FG support without actually blushing? Has he no shame? How does anyone in that party defend what has been done? They are actually viewed as toxic to Waterford city by a lot of people.

Fine Gael and Mr Varadkar know now that even if they do deliver anything to Waterford that they will get no thanks for it, because they have poisoned the issue so much. Delivery is even more unlikely going forward because of this, and because the Minister for Further Education and leader in waiting Simon Harris (?) does not give a hoot about Waterford.

"it will be viewed as a deliberate, conscious and active suppression of Waterford city by Fine Gael" Could not agree more. People in Waterford need to wake up to this. A lot still have not.

More worried about toeing the party line ensuring they try and obtain seats in Kilkenny Carlow and Wexford.

He has been a huge let down regarding a "University of Waterford"

Famous words of Big Phil! Him and Howlin could have changed this region for the best but of course parish politics took center stage!

I believe someday there will be an independent 'University of Waterford'.

Unfortunately that someday will probably now not be in our lifetimes because that locomotive most of us on here champion, and legions have advocated, agitated, lobbied and marched for, over decades, has been shunted into a siding rebranded SETU Waterford, hitched to freshly repainted and pimped up SETU Carlow, some caboose called SETU Wicklow and the phantom bandwagons SETU Wexford and Kilkenny.

Eventually, demographics coupled with common sense and an opportune political moment will create the tipping point and (final railway analogy) put our train back on the right track.

Just not anytime soon.

Didn't mean to come across as being smart. Just meant that if people say it is never going to happen we are doing exactly what the people opposed to Waterford having a full university want. Waterford people need to send a strong message to government through our TD's and senator, who are part of the problem, that TUSE has not addressed the university issue in Waterford. I listened back to the Oireachtas debate on WLR during the week. John Cummins and Mary Butler in particular are a disgrace on this issue. They keep pushing blatant lies about what the TUSE is. It is all just down the road stuff at best.

Was driving down Collins Avenue Dublin recently and nearly crashed the car passing DCU when I saw the new building at the main entrance, which is after flying up, turns out is the NEW ENGINEERING BUILDING! 😮 T'would make you weep. 😪 How many years are we waiting now?

An absolute embarrassment at this stage! Complete failure to deliver this project.

We need more than just student accommodation on the crystal site. There must be new teaching space and labs created or there will be no new courses like Veterinary. As it stands the science labs are running at 100% capacity with classes running into the evenings to give all the students lab time so there is definitely the need for a new science building

Actually I understand that NOT CPOing it is positive.

We should know the entire ambition of this Government for SETU by the end of the month. After three Programmes for Government throwing shapes on doing something. This government will start to move into election mode after the summer, with only a few options for an election on favourable terms before they run out of road. So what gets announced at the end of the month is really the final opportunity for this Government to do something to make SETU a meaningful game-changer.

Govt admin (endless exercises in value-for-money analysis and paper shuffling in a multi-stage process) takes about a year and a half without a minister sitting over civil servants. Remember Leo Varadkar announced the crystal as imminent in Feb 2020. Priming funding to prepare planning permission (back of an envelope- circa €5-6m for a €100m building-professional fees are around 23% of a large public building cost) needs approval- so we are 2 years away from being able to build, realistically min 5 years for bums on seats- if we start today.

This Government will go out of business with nothing none other than the rebrand and starting a complex, unfunded merger with minimal synergies- with no idea how it ends. This month is the final opportunity to make the TU meaningful before an election.

Meaningful at a minimum is signing the PPP (as designed) before the summer (promised in Q1 2023), crystal with €100m of teaching space (for new programmes to halt the brain drain), new programmes in volume disciplines (vet is nice to have, teaching and med are where the transformative numbers are), 50m in refurb to stabilise the existing stock of buildings and make them fit for another 20 years, professorships and new lecturer contracts, an uplift in per-student funding to university level, and new management roles (to handle the incredibly thorny merger). Short of that expect SETU=(ITCarlow+WIT)-unfunded merger.

Tragic-funny hearing Michael Martin bragging about buying Carriganore in 1998 as Minister for Education. Having fought tooth and nail to stop it, Martin Cullen won the day. Then Martin prevented the masterplan and build-out of the university there, 25 years later Carriganore is still fields. The crystal could easily go the same way, we buy a field (surface area carpark), and hear Leo Varadkar crowing endlessly about how much he did for SETU in 25 years' time.

Apologies for the essay. We will see what things look like at the end of the month.

I understand that the new veterinary program is going to Limerick (balanced regional development). Veterinary is a huge undertaking, you need teaching space and a tertiary veterinary hospital.

UL for Vet school. JP McManus supporting it.

Despite my lack of faith in the whole TU, this is great news.

I have a number of questions regarding the new site and plans but today I shall remain positive as it is a good news story.

Great, if it happens, bearing in mind how many times the crystal site purchase and the new Engineering building have been 'announced'.

Maybe BAM might lend them the pile of sand and rocks on the Quay for the 'ground-breaking' photo op?

An Olympic size swimming pool in Wexford, do the delusions of grandeur in Wexford have no end, God give me patience.

https://www.independent.ie/regionals/wexford/news/wexfords-new-setu-campus-should-have-an-olympic-sized-swimming-pool-cllr-leonard-kelly-42412029.html