Phoenix: Do you remember?

At this time of the year when the first round CAO offers come out for college places, the thoughts of anyone in Waterford interested in the third-level future of the city might turn to the late Ollie Clery. 

For 20 years between 1985 and 2005 as secretary of the Waterford University Action Group he spent an inordinate amount of his time and probably an uncountable amount of his own money pushing the idea of a university for Waterford. 

He beat the drum continuously and metaphorically beat a lot of our politicians as well to drive home the idea that Waterford city was entitled to the same investment and the same facilities as other cities in the country. 

For some reason, this idea of equity was not accepted by some of our political representatives, who thought that we should be satisfied with our lot. 

Ollie had worked in other parts of the country and never accepted us being treated as second-class citizens. 

He had seen first-hand the huge contribution university status made to places and he knew that this status was the vital missing link in Waterford. 

He often said that everything was connected to everything else, that a successful Waterford university and third-level education product would attract industry and business but would also help develop our acute medical sector. 

At its most basic, if it came to a competition for investment between Waterford and Galway, the university in Galway would be the deciding factor. 

Ollie knew from his business experience that educating and retaining young people in Waterford was vital to the prosperity, economic and social success of the city. None was more delighted than he when WRTC was upgraded to WIT. 

The progress of the college seemed inexorable, driven by a raft of great people with a vision for the future of the city who hoped to halt the brain drain.

As Waterford welcomes 9,000 students to SETU, bringing vital life to the city’s economy and cultural scene, Ollie would want to wish them well in their studies. 

The college works very well for students. Quality of learning is broadly the same as any of Ireland’s universities and is audited by QQI (Quality and Qualifications Ireland), the state agency responsible for promoting the quality, integrity and reputation of Ireland's further and higher education system. 

It is cheaper to live at home and/ or commute, as well as more socially balanced, not having to leave your family at 18 to live in Dublin, Limerick or Cork. Younger students are perhaps less likely to go off the rails from partying too much. And, remember, Waterford city won the Irish Times award as the best place to live in Ireland in 2021 and this is testament to quality of life and facilities.

As an aside, it was reported nationally that Waterford with Galway is one of only two places in Ireland with the proper quota of medical GPs in practice. As is its default, the Irish Times high-tailed it to Galway to find out why. 

The answer about the importance of quality of life came back. 

We could easily make the same argument here, but tend to be reserved about saying anything perceived as boastful. Something in the Viking or Scandinavian blood?

It is important to reflect that the fruits of the TU have yet to arrive in Waterford. Despite the 2011 Fine Gael promise of full university to halt the brain drain, WIT/SETU is still the same size, no new courses, buildings or disciplines. 

Vet and pharma curses are still being sat on by the Department. 

Last week, a meeting in Kildalton, Co. Kilkenny, was held to acquaint regional Oireachtas members with the excellent facilities and work there. 

WIT has a long and fruitful relationship with Teagasc and was promised last year by then Minister for Further Education Harris that the proposed new veterinary college would be established in Kildalton to underpin the new SETU in a region with no alternative national university. 

However, with the new minister and junior ministers for further education being both from Limerick, a biased political decision on the location looks possible. 

People in Kilkenny have lobbied for third-level facilities. Now is their chance to support that aim with the development of veterinary courses in Piltown.

It has to be hammered home, despite a disgraceful wait since 2009, that the PPP development of the proposed new Engineering Building is still not done. Taoiseach Harris talks about getting it done, Marc O’Cathasaigh TD talks about laying an egg. Matt Shanahan hardly believes anything that Simon Harris promises. Senator John Cummins has assured us from the very start of the SETU proposal that everything is in hand. It obviously is not. 

David Cullinane has exorcised the very word Waterford from his vocabulary lest it interfere with his party’s electoral ambitions, while Minister Mary Butler is ineffectual, silent on the sidelines. 

Meanwhile, in recent months, Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science Patrick O’Donovan has officially opened three new major education facilities in Sligo. The projects, delivered at a cost of €37 million, include: an €18 million 4,000sqm extension to the EO1 Building in Atlantic Technological University (ATU) to deliver cutting-edge teaching and research facilities, a €17 refurbishment of Blocks K and L in ATU to offer improved facilities to the Faculty of Engineering and Design, as well as a new building in Sligo College of Further Education to deliver enhanced learning in IT, Health, Care, Business, Law and Engineering for 500 students. 

In our case, the brownfield crystal site has been bought (€4m) but development proposals, other than those of the Frisby-led private sector, are still pipe dreams. 

Promised investment simply has not come. The new lecturers' contracts, professorial staff, SETU borrowing legislation and student accommodation are all still promised, still un-progressed and still on the long finger. Fine Gael has dramatically failed Waterford.

While the university of scale for Waterford and its accompanying investment, promised so often by Fine Gael, particularly by Taoiseach Simon Harris, seems as remote as ever, we cannot let that take from the new energy, vitality and craic that young people, who are starting their SETU journey, bring to Waterford. We wish them all well.