Michael Bell
Question:58 Mr. Bell asked the Minister for Education and Science when the national seafarers' college will be established and operational; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26916/00]
Written Answers. - National Seafarers' College.
Ireland has to meet a binding international obligation to provide nautical training to new mandatory international standards as set by the International Convention on Standards Of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers, 1978, as amended in 1995 (STCW'95) which comes into effect in February 2002.
Following a Government decision in May 2000, approval was given for the establishment of a national maritime college in Ringaskiddy, County Cork, using the public private partnership model. The new college is to be a constituent school of the Cork Institute of Technology.
The national maritime college will accommodate the department of nautical studies of the Cork Institute of Technology and the naval college of the Irish Naval Service, and planning for the provision of the college is well under way in my Department. Following an advertisement in the Official Journal of the European Communities and in the national media, management consultants were appointed last week to support my Department's public private partnership unit with the procurement of the project. In parallel with the process of appointing management consultants, an application for outline planning permission for the new college was submitted to Cork County Council in September last.
Although, at this stage of the process, it is not possible to give the Deputy a detailed timetable for the project, I assure him that the planning and provision of the new college is being given top priority in my Department.