Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 23 May 2024
7. Deputy Brendan Smith asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science the major capital projects that will be progressed this year in the further education sector; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23273/24]
View answerI congratulate the Minister on his appointment and wish him well in his new role. I very much welcome the emphasis that has been placed on the development of further education since the Government took office in June 2020. I spoke to the Minister's predecessor on many occasions about the opportunities that exist to develop the further education sector on an all-Ireland, cross-Border basis. I am particularly glad that there is a substantial capital programme. One of the projects of particular interest to me is the proposed development of the state-of-the-art campus in Cavan to provide additional accommodation for Cavan Institute. I would be grateful to get an overall view of what is happening on the building schemes.
I thank the Deputy for his warm words. In 2022, two new capital infrastructure programmes were launched to provide for significant investment in further education and training, FET. These programmes are the FET college of the future major projects fund and the strategic infrastructure upgrade fund. The college of the future major projects fund will support projects that can help drive reform of the FET sector, including through consolidation of provision, the integration of further education and training, the realisation of centres of excellence, and unified tertiary planning.
During this year, ETBs that are progressing proposals under the FET college of the future major projects fund will build on the significant work already completed in further developing and refining their proposals to bring a clearer focus on proposals to meet the required priority infrastructure. Once business cases are updated, they will be evaluated by SOLAS and my Department. Proposals that meet the required evaluation criteria will move to the next stage of development, which is the planning, procurement and design stage, and this will take place this year.
The strategic infrastructure upgrade fund is a fund to support smaller-scale investments in existing FET infrastructure, while ensuring that works are progressed within the context of an overall strategic plan for buildings and is aligned with college of the future principles. There are currently 19 projects being progressed following this programme call, all at various stages of project development, and these will also be progressed this year.
In 2024 the total available capital budget for the ETB sector is €65.5 million. I have heard quite a lot about the Cavan campus and it is my intention to visit it as soon as possible and to meet the local ETB in this context.
I thank the Minister for his reply. He would be very welcome to visit Cavan Institute, which has been a very successful institute since its establishment. I was very much involved with Cavan Institute as I was the chair of the first board of management of the college. I was involved in having the initial buildings and accommodation provided. It was actually the first dedicated PLC college in the country. It has been extremely important for Cavan and the neighbouring counties. It has developed collaborations with colleges north of the Border as well, which is very important. The college on Cathedral Road in Cavan does not have enough accommodation. It needs additional permanent accommodation which will be provided as part of the college of the future initiative. I am very anxious that this proposed building project should proceed through the various stages as soon as possible, and that we see additional permanent accommodation being provided, adjoining the existing institute where there is ample space to provide more classrooms and ancillary accommodation.
I agree with the Deputy. One of the statistics that bears testimony to what he is saying is that in a very short period, the budget for FET has grown from €5 million to €65 million. This comes from the creation of the Department, which was a commitment in the programme for Government. Let us be realistic, when all of this was part of the remit of the Department of Education, further education was lost, to an extent, particularly in the context of the capital requirements because there were so many other competing demands. Now, with a designated Department, further education is really being prioritised and this allows ETBs in particular to have access to funds that they never in a million years previously thought would be available to them. That should be recognised.
Regarding the Cavan Institute, as the Deputy stated it is being progressed under the FET college of the future project. Cavan and Monaghan ETB is now further refining its proposal to bring a clear focus to meet the infrastructure requirements. Once the business case has been refined and updated, it will be evaluated by SOLAS. I know I stated in my initial reply that a number of these projects are progressing, but they will not progress together based on which one is the slowest. Whichever ones can move at the quickest pace will be the ones that will be advanced. We will not be holding them back.
I can assure the Minister that Cavan and Monaghan ETB will work very diligently on this. It has put together a very strong business case to advance this accommodation proposal. I do not think that we in this House can emphasise enough the importance of the further education sector. Over the years I have seen many young people who may have come from communities where there was not a particularly heavy emphasis on education go on to further education, such as Cavan Institute and Monaghan Institute, and get qualifications. Sometimes it is a pathway to higher education or to a very successful career.
As the Minister knows well, another very important aspect of the colleges of further education is that they respond to local needs of local industry and communities. Again, I emphasise the opportunities there are for further collaboration with South West College in Enniskillen and Omagh. I have had a very close association with those colleges over the years and there is great potential there to develop the sector on an all-Ireland basis. I know the capital budget was put in place was to ensure these colleges have the most modern and appropriate accommodation to meet the needs of their students and the staff delivering the services there.
It is important to point out as well that there was a devolved grant scheme, which was administered by SOLAS but came from the Department, of just over €8 million from which the Cavan and Monaghan ETB benefited to the tune of under €500,000. It is small money in the overall context, but it is certainly an awful lot of money when you are looking for it. It is a lot of money in terms of making sure the basic infrastructure requirements that are needed for the trainees and the employers to whom Deputy Smith refers can be met in the short and immediate term. The challenge now will be to make sure the business case is advanced and prioritised as quickly as possible and that we can turn it around. We have a capital budget that we never had before. These are the types of places, particularly in regional and rural locations, where people will receive tertiary education. That is why rural towns like Cavan and Monaghan are the places I would like to see prioritised during my tenure in this Department.
