Senator Malcolm Byrne chaired a meeting this morning of the Oireachtas members from the South East, where he was joined by Minister Simon Harris, the Chairs and Presidents of Waterford and Carlow Institutes of Technology, and Tom Boland, the project manager.

A number of matters confirmed –

TUSE Application will be lodged on 28th April

The plan is that the new university will come into being on 1st January, 2022

There will be a significant Wexford campus

There will be an additional bigger footprint for the Waterford campus

About €150m in new capital investment is already committed to the university across the region.

There are nine working groups involving Staff across the two institutions preparing for this project

There is no ‘Plan B’ if this is rejected.

Malcolm commented,

“This is a hugely important project for our region and will result in potentially the fifth largest university in the State, a new institution next year. This has been one of my top priorities since becoming a member of the Oireachtas and it will be of enormous benefit to the social and economic development of the region when it is realised. Most importantly, it will be of benefit to learners across all our counties”