Further and Higher Education
Seanad Éireann — 2022-11-09
============================================================

Peter Burke (FG), Longford-Westmeath

I thank Senator Ahearn for raising this important matter again. I had the pleasure of visiting Kickham Barracks and the site and know the huge work being done there. As the Senator said, almost all the Cabinet were down to see it and I have no doubt that will bear fruit in the future. The Minister, Deputy Harris, was eager to be here to respond directly but, unfortunately, had to attend Cabinet.
The proposed development of a joint college campus between Tipperary ETB and TUS on the site of Kickham Barracks, Clonmel, is something I know the Senator has been pursuing for a significant period, including with the visit of the Minister, Deputy Harris, to Carrick-on-Suir. At the heart of the proposal is collaboration between TUS and Tipperary ETB. This is also at the heart of the agenda the Minister is pursuing. A more unified tertiary system is essential if we are to meet the needs of learners, as well as of the economy and greater society.
Earlier this year, Tipperary ETB made an application to the further education and training, FET, college of the future major projects fund to develop an integrated tertiary FET-higher education campus in collaboration with TUS on the Kickham Barracks site in Clonmel town. The Clonmel barracks connected campus is part of a wider network of integrated Tipperary ETB FET locations and is a sister project to a similar connected campus initiative with TUS in Thurles. TUS is collaborating with Tipperary ETB on a proposal for a shared campus in Thurles. This is being led by TUS, which has made an application under the technological sector strategic projects fund.

---

Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted.

Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2022-11-09/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:51:15+00:00
Sitting date: 2022-11-09