I wish to share time with Deputy O'Keeffe. I congratulate our Front Bench spokesperson, Deputy Martin, for tabling this comprehensive motion. I wish to refer specifically to the question of equality and access to education, not only for existing but future students.
During a Dáil debate on the Mayo regional technical college in March 1993 the Minister announced the setting up of a study group to report on the need for additional third level places up to the year 2010. The study group presumably took into account the Minister's remarks in her speech to the Dáil on 23 March, particularly the six items she claimed must underpin future decisions on investments in higher education, one of which was the contribution such investment would make to regional development and overall economic welfare.
To survive, a county like Mayo needs investment to fuel economic growth and job creation and this depends mainly on having a highly qualified workforce in the area. Population trends in towns with regional technical colleges showed growth rates in population from 18 per cent to 93 per cent between 1971 and 1991, the growth rate in Waterford was 18 per cent while in Letterkenny it was 93 per cent. Counties with regional technical colleges are considerably smaller in landmass size than Mayo. For example, Louth is only 15 per cent of the size of Mayo while Counties Westmeath, Sligo and Waterford are each approximately 35 per cent.
Mayo is the third largest county and this simple statement of fact could be easily disregarded as yet another irrelevant statistic. However, when viewed against the size of counties in which regional colleges are located its significance and the scale of the inequality is startling. The entire cumulative area of Counties Louth, Carlow, Sligo and Westmeath — all with fully fledged independent regional technical colleges — is substantially less than that of County Mayo. If County Waterford were included the size of the combined areas would only be a little more than that of County Mayo.
The technical working group's report published in January 1995 recommended against the establishment of a full regional technical college in County Mayo. The Programme for Government does not contain a commitment in that regard, but it contains a commitment to provide third level institutions in Dún Laoghaire and Thurles. I call on the Government to formally reject immediately the findings of the technical group's report. This should not present a difficulty as it has already discredited the report by overruling its findings on Finglas and Thurles. The Minister, Deputy Kenny — and Deputy Ring — both representatives of Mayo, stated publicly that the study group's findings will be rejected.
The findings of the technical group's report are based on projected numbers and are fundamentally flawed because the group assumes students come only from within a regional technical college's catchment area, ignoring the reality in the case of many regional technical colleges. For example, less than 40 per cent of the student population in Waterford, Galway and Letterkenny come from within their respective areas. The technical group does not allow for the fact that new courses developed in the Castlebar campus will be innovative and multidisciplinary and are not likely to impact on existing regional technical colleges in the region as they will attract students from other areas and create new markets.
As student population projections indicate an increase of 30,000 additional places between now and the year 2010 all locations and facilities must be assessed with a view to providing them. Castlebar is in an ideal position to provide those places since it already has space which it can expand into at minimal cost. Its existing 3,900 square metres was refurbished at approximately half the cost of an equivalent new building while the cost of developing the remaining space available on the campus would be half that again because much of the necessary work — roofing, services and so on — has been done.
A Government decision to provide sufficient funds in the 1996 budget to allow work to proceed on the next phase will be required in due course and I ask the Minister to give permission, when sought, to allow a feasibility study for the completion of phase two of the development to be carried out. All the academic planning has been undertaken.
One is conscious, however, of an irony when reading the technical group's report. If County Mayo students had demonstrated a lack of interest in third level education in recent years and had low levels of uptake similar to other regions there would now be, on the reasoning used in the report, a strong case for a Mayo regional technical college.