I welcome the Minister to the House. Given the international night that it is, I know that Senator O'Kennedy will not keep the Minister.
Adjournment Matters. - Tipperary Rural and Business Development Institute.
I thank you for allowing me to discuss this motion tonight and I thank the Minister for attending the Seanad to respond to this motion.
I believe the issue raised by this motion is a matter of national importance. Were it not, I would not have brought it before the Seanad this evening when everyones attention is focused on what will happen shortly in Windsor Park. I hope that I will be able to have this important issue presented to the House at this point and that the Minister, as far as she can, will be able to give me an update on the current position.
The Minister is familiar with the issue itself, especially as a consequence of her visit to Thurles in July which I believe gave recognition to the committee and the public in the region because they are strongly united behind this project. The Minister's visit gave recognition to their efforts and that was appreciated. I wish to put that on the record. I was there to meet and greet the Minister. Because she is familiar with this issue I will not have to go through the detail of that report.
In the meantime some issues have emerged which demonstrate that this issue is a matter of major national importance. The location of a rural and business development institute and the need to establish one has become crucial to the development and expansion of our most important national resource, the indigenous agri-food sector.
The decline of the rural population, which is not confined to Ireland, is becoming a cause for alarm. For that reason every possible action that can be taken at Government and official level must be directed and co-ordinated in the national interest of maintaining employment in the rural economy, which is not confined to the countryside. It embraces all our towns and cities.
As a Minister I have had the privilege and responsibility over a number of years to take measures to arrest this rural decline. Among the measures undertaken was the designation of disadvantaged areas, from which I am glad to report my home county did rather well, provision of major grants for processing and the added value for employment, a vitally important employment priority in the whole range of sectors, be it the pig meat sector, the dairy sector or the beef sector. The days of the guarantee funding and subsidies from the EC will not continue indefinitely, if they are not already over, and all our efforts — and this is where this institute becomes important — must focus on the added value of knowledge and the capacity and technology to develop that essential resource. That was why I, as Minister for Agriculture, suggested that this should be the theme of this institute, that it should not simply be another third level college but one that would be significant in the national list of priorities.
I am saying this in the context of continuing rural depopulation where there are now only approximately 60,000 full time farmers, and perhaps 100,000 to 120,000 farmers in total. That is a serious picture not only for farmers but for the country. We need an urgent revitalised and re-energised national policy and at the centre of this is the need for education in management and development of rural business and enterprise. The downstream processing and the marketing that will follow from that are essential. In addition, the concept of self-reliance is an essential degree of economic development at a time when we will be trading and competing even more vigorously in the context of the GATT. We must ensure by our self reliance, especially in education, that we have the capacity to meet this challenge.
Even from my short period as Minister for Labour, the Minister will be aware that I believe strongly that the Department's and the Minister's role are crucial to this and the proposed Tipperary rural and business development institute is an essential component of this plan. The European-based consultancy group, which has strong links with the universities here, came out in favour of this institute for the reasons I have given. That report was presented to the Minister in July.
This project will have many unique features. Those who will be involved as teachers will be contracting 30 to 40 per cent of their time for community development. This is a new concept. The institute will not be confined to the lecture room but will help develop business and community in the rural environment.
Another feature will be the outreach centres which could be set up in Clonmel, Nenagh, Tipperary town, Roscrea or other contiguous areas. These will be like spokes from the centre of the wheel, feeding and energising rural Ireland and the business and development programmes which will be taking place.
It will respond to the needs of the community, especially the marketing and management of existing business ventures. We know we cannot be dependent on mobile multinationals to do what we would like them to do, on our terms. We have the example today by Neodata and there are many others. We cannot blame them for having their priorities. They are mobile and in the new free enterprise area to be established under GATT they will be even more so. Therefore we must have stronger security for our indigenous industries. We must equip and educate our people at home in institutes such as this to guarantee employment for them and others in their area.
The Minister has taken on board the concept of continuous education. It will be an essential feature of her policy-driven approach. We should have this capacity not just in such an institute but in all the areas associated with it so that education can be continually renewed.
At the same time it must be a mainstream third level institute and under the plan as delivered to the Minister it will be. It cannot be divorced from the overall scheme and must be included. It must also respond directly to the EC directives on rural development, the Leader programme and a range of schemes we are meant to establish. It is essential to have this institute to do that effectively.
Because it must be a matter of continuing development, marketing is essential. This concept in itself must be promoted to persuade everyone of its importance. There must be marketing of the Irish image and product to help rurally-based enterprise. We should acknowledge our deplorable weakness in that area and the great scope for improvement.
The Danes are engaged in the marketing and the added value of their products throughout the world. Our marketing does no justice to the quality of our products. We have much leeway to make up in that area. It is not just a matter for a Government Department. It must be driven by a young educated workforce which has developed capacity in language, marketing skills and food processing in an institute of this kind.
This will become hugely important in the free trade area which will be introduced by the GATT agreement. There will also be a reduction in EC supports and subsidies and a decline in rural population. Will we sit and observe this happening or will we place our confidence in our young people and their educational capacity, as we must? They must be helped to develop through third level to the advantage of themselves and the country.
Tipperary is a county associated with rural enterprise in its culture, its productivity and its very essence. All of its towns are dependent on agri-industry. The main employment in towns such as Roscrea, Thurles, Nenagh and Clonmel and in towns in contiguous countries is agriculture-based.
We need a decentralisation policy. Governments I have been part of and the current Administration have vigorously pursued this. Thurles is about 85 miles from Dublin, 60 miles from Cork, 60 miles from Waterford and 70 miles from Galway. It is on a main railway line and I can testify from my experience today it is 1 hour 25 minutes from Dublin by train. A third level institute could not have a better service. A serviced site of up to 20 acres is available for the institute.
I appreciate the presence of the Minister to listen to my restatement of the urgency to establish this institute. I am concerned, not about the institute but about the overall amount of capital available to the Minister under the National Development Plan recently sanctioned in Brussels. The provision in the plan for appropriately funded support from the EC for third level education was for £120 million in capital over six years. The total allocation was for £191 million over the same period. As a vigorous supporter of the Minister's programme and of the priority of education I wish the figure could be higher and perhaps the amount to other Departments lower. The amount allocated may not be enough to fund all the deserving capital programmes. In response to the national need, I hope the Minister will ensure the proposed Tipperary rural and business development institute will feature prominently.
Thank you, a Chathaoirligh, for the customary welcome I receive in this House. I am glad the Senator has given me the opportunity to clarify this matter. I visited Thurles on 2 July 1993, and had a meeting with the Committee for the Tipperary Rural and Business Development Institute. I had a look at the site, purchased in 1987 for the regional technical college which was planned at the time.
I was briefed on the TRBDI, the concept of a third level institute with a mission to promote business and rural development, operating from a main campus in Thurles as well as at Clonmel and distributed campuses throughout Tipperary. The unique emphasis of the TRBDI on action in small businesses, technological transfer, mainstream courses with emphasis on rural and business development, adult education and stimulation of enterprise, innovation and applied research was outlined to me. The projected cost of the TRBDI was estimated at £8-£10 million for buildings and an annual cost of approximately £4 million for staff. Non-pay costs could be expected to be approximately £1 million per annum.
My visit to Thurles was one of a number of visits, meetings and discussions with interested parties in relation to plans for developments in post-secondary provision in various parts of the country. I found these visits most useful and informative. They followed on from a commitment made by me in responding to a Dáil Private Members' motion on the provision of additional places in the higher education sector earlier this year. In the course of that response, I outlined the dramatic changes which had taken place in higher education over the past generation and I referred to the large expenditure on third level education, which now accounts for approximately 22 per cent of the education budget, as compared to 6 per cent in 1966. I stated that higher education requires a large investment by the State and by individuals and that there was therefore, a heavy responsibility to ensure that this investment was maximised. Proper planning for the sector was essential.
Decisions on investment must have regard to: (1) priorities in educational provision, with special regard to the disadvantaged; (2) the most effective use of scarce resources; (3) additional places required overall; (4) the viability of establishing new centres, as against the expansion of existing institutions; (5) local and regional participation rates; (6) the contribution such investment will make to regional development and overall economic welfare; and (7) the type and level of courses needed, bearing in mind their contribution to productive enterprise.
I proposed, therefore, an examination of the needs of different regions, socio-economic groups and the overall needs of society with a view to developing an integrated plan in the context of third level education generally and the White Paper on education. A steering committee has now been established under the aegis of the Higher Education Authority to advise me on the future development of the higher education sector in Ireland. The steering committee will prepare projections of the total potential enrolments in higher education to the year 2015 and the corresponding needs of the sector to facilitate these enrolments.
The committee will carry out a comprehensive needs analysis of higher education requirements. Its remit includes the overall needs of society and the economy, as well as regional, socio-economic and equality considerations, together with the needs of students and the world of work. The committee will also focus on the appropriate provision for mature students, as well as the need to provide access to third level education for disadvantaged students. As indicated by me in the Dáil, the work of the committee will have to be informed by, and take account of, budgetary and financial considerations. The committee will commence its work immediately and will report not later than 30 June 1994.
On 11 October last, I announced that the sum of £120 million had been included in the education element of the National Development Plan in respect of improved and developed facilities at third level over the same period. My Department is at present in the process of identifying the individual capital projects which might be funded under the European Regional Development Fund Programme, 1994-99. These projects will be incorporated into operational programmes, which to date have not been approved by the EC.
Accordingly, in advance of the outcome of the examination of needs at third level or of approval of projects to be funded under the European Regional Development Fund Programme 1994-99, it is not possible to give commitments on individual projects at this time.
I want to thank the Minister for her statement. I hope that when the group the Minister has referred to examine the issue, it will take into account both the new elements I mentioned and the recommendations the TRBDI committee will bring before it. The national need for such an institute is the strength of this case, although it would also be of major benefit to County Tipperary.
The Seanad adjourned at 7.35 p.m. until 10.30 a.m. on Thursday, 18 November 1993.