Technological Universities
Seanad Éireann — 2026-04-30
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Cathal Byrne (FG), Cultural and Educational Panel

I thank the Minister of State for coming in for this very important Commencement matter. This is about requesting an update from the Department about the South East Technological University Wexford campus. Regrettably, Wexford has the lowest number of people with a third level education degree. We are at about 37% as of census 2022, while the national average is 46%. This shows just how important the Wexford SETU campus will be. I am aware of the CPO being completed. I am aware of the detailed design, and the layout for the campus is under way. I am here to request a very important update on where this project is at and what we can do to work together to move it on. This is a unique campus. It will be the first campus in Ireland which will co-educate from primary school education to secondary school education, apprenticeships and then on to university status, all co-located on the one site. This is a unique, flagship campus but we have to move it on. The people of Wexford have been waiting too long for their own designated third level campus. There is fantastic work going on in St. Peter's College and the campus it has there, but the reality is that it is just not suitable for the scale of ambition people have for third level education in Wexford.
I would be very grateful to get an update from the Minister of State. I visited the site with the Minister, Deputy James Lawless, on 5 December, when he came to Wexford. We are now several months on and we just want a clear update on where we are at.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-04-30/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:53+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-04-30