Waterford University discussion

A new engineering building in Waterford?

In your dreams.

Interesting to see more clearing work on the Crystal site this week. Hopefully getting it ready for an announcement but I won’t be holding my breath…

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

No but there was definitely some fools involved in suggesting it

You are certainly not wrong that we should aspire to have top-class sports facilities— alas the last new teaching building was delivered in the early 2000s, and the Engineering building PPP was first announced in 2006/7 and appears no closer. So in the order of priorities, it would be nice for politicians to focus on delivering what is already promised, before starting off on new adventures.

I oresume you are from Wexford. Whether or not, the politicians quoted have little understanding of just how difficult it has been to get any investment. A wish list may not be a bad thing, so maybe things will change with SETU?

Nope, I'm not from Wexford, I'm just interested in what was driving the comment.

Not disagreeing that the (local) politicians have a lack of knowledge, but the parochialism that comes to the fore every time Wexford is mentioned is amusing. The 'city' status of Waterford seems to trump all other locations in the SE.

I do agree that until SETU is given the ability to hold its own destiny in its own hands like the longer established universities it will struggle to develop and to move away from being a glorified IT. But that is not going to happen anytime soon. The Government and in particular Harris has increased centralised control over third level and any developments of the TU's will be aligned with wider regional planning, hence the reason why there's a campus for everyone in the audience. No TU apart from TUD will be able to reach it's potential unless there's a sea change in government / departmental approach.

Bad day for SETU with news that teaching training cannot be located in TUs under new Government policy. Teacher training would have been a big win. Ominous for the other new course asks.