Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 21 September 2023
76. Deputy Brendan Griffin asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science the up-to-date position regarding plans to redevelop the former Pretty Polly plant and site in Killarney, County Kerry, into a further education centre of excellence; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40647/23]
View answerThe Minister has been a very regular visitor to County Kerry since he came into his role, more than any other Minister. One of the very important visits he paid took place last November when he announced that the former Pretty Polly site in Killarney would be redeveloped as a centre of excellence for further education. Will he update the House on the progress on that project? What are the anticipated timelines?
I answered a question from another Deputy from County Kerry earlier regarding students from Kerry going to Cork for their university education. Of course, that will always happen but I am so proud we can stand here now, as I am sure the Deputy is as a Kerry Deputy, and say that Kerry is now a university county, Tralee is now a university town, and there is a real capacity to do more in Killarney as regards further and higher education, which is at the nub of his question. We have made huge progress on the educational offering in Kerry. I praise MTU, especially MTU Tralee staff, and the leadership of Kerry Education and Training Board, ETB, which has an exceptional team of people working extraordinarily hard, including our colleague, Councillor Jim Finucane, who chairs Kerry ETB with real determination, passion and dedication.
As part of an ambitious new phase of capital investment I launched early last year, I was very happy to be in a position to come to Killarney with the Deputy to announce that the site locally known as the Pretty Polly plant site at Killarney has been chosen as a further education and training, FET, college of the future and a major further education college. I know how important this is for access to education and, from talking to those in the tourism industry and hospitality sector there with the Deputy, to have a pipeline of people in terms of graduates and training programmes.
I am pleased to confirm to the Deputy that the proposal has moved to the next stage of development, which is the full, formal business case and complying with public spending codes. A workshop took place at the end of March with relevant ETB representatives, including Kerry ETB, to advise on how to complete the necessary business case templates and the like. I also met Kerry ETB more recently when I was in Kerry with the Deputy. Since then, SOLAS has worked closely with Kerry ETB during the development phase of its proposal. Kerry ETB is now working to finalise its preliminary case.
I do not have to tell the Deputy this is a very exciting project for Killarney and the wider Kerry region. The Pretty Polly site has not been in use for some time. The ambition is simple: to repurpose and transform it into a state-of-the-art campus that focuses on skills development in hospitality training, while also supporting renewable energy and sustainable green technologies. Kerry ETB has also been successful under the strategic infrastructure upgrade fund for two proposals, including refurbishment and upgrade of the Listowel campus and provision of additional accommodation at its Monavalley campus in Tralee, which I was also delighted to visit with the Deputy.
I thank the Minister for his response, which is very encouraging. It is one of the most exciting projects there has been in the county for a long time. It symbolises rejuvenation and a form of renaissance for what was maybe a symbol of decline and failure, and a new era for Kerry and Killarney in particular. I thank the Minister for the effort he has put in to date and for his commitment to this project. I also thank all the stakeholders who have made a huge effort in getting it to where it is today. It is important that work continues and the thrust that is there will continue into the future because we need to see this come to fruition as soon as possible. It will be very important for the provision of much-needed skills for local industry, especially tourism and hospitality. As the Minister knows, Kerry is the capital of tourism and hospitality in Ireland. We need to have a flow of skilled people able to work in that industry.
I ask the Minister to keep doing everything he can do. I again thank him for his efforts. It is very important to the county.
I am aware of the great pride in tourism in Kerry. If I was not, I was made aware of it at the National Ploughing Championships yesterday, with the Kerry tent and all the people wearing "Come to Kerry" hats. It was quite something but you should come to County Wicklow too. I am very aware of the pride Kerry places in that.
This is a very exciting project. I will be honest. We would not be at this point if it had not been for Kerry Deputies. They have done an amazing job in putting forward projects. We are back in an era of being able to invest a lot in further education and training, but that requires people being able to come forward locally and regionally with good, sensible ideas and proposals. What has been done in this instance is brilliant. A derelict site was spotted that used to be a hive of activity and employment, which is lying derelict and, as the Deputy said, has perhaps been a symbol of decline in Killarney. People there said they could repurpose that site, put it to work for their local industry, provide educational opportunities for people, partner with local businesses, get things moving and give Killarney a presence, from a third level education point of view, that it has not had up until now.
Factually, the next step is that a business case is due by the end of the year. I was very honest when I was in Kerry. These are not small projects but are four- or five-year projects that were only announced a couple of months ago. However, I think we will have a further update by the end of the year that will see a little momentum behind this.
That is great. Of course these things take time. I remember when a bus leaving my parish took predominantly women to work in that Pretty Polly factory in the 1980s and 1990s. A week is a long time in politics but, at the same time, time goes pretty quickly too. It will take time. We have to be realistic but I have no doubt that when this project is completed, it will serve future generations very well, including workers and the overall industry. We make a massive effort across the board and across the community in Kerry in building our brand and keeping it strong. The Minister saw that at the ploughing championships. We are very proud of our county, as the Minister is of Glendalough and all the beautiful places in Wicklow.
We also have many challenges because we are geographically a peripheral county. For us, tourism is proportionately much more important. That is why the provision of skills and the preparation of people, predominantly young people, for a life in tourism and hospitality is very important. That is why this is such a symbolic and important project. It is such a huge part of our economy. I ask the Minister to do everything he can to keep this on the agenda and push it as hard as he can.
I absolutely will. I assure the Deputy of that. Four big things are going on as regards education in Kerry. We have a university, with the Munster Technological University campus in Tralee. We turned the sod on a major new STEM building there only a few months ago, where there are huge opportunities. We also want to see student accommodation developed in Tralee. I spoke to the president, Professor Maggie Cusack, regarding that. The Pretty Polly project is under way in Killarney, which is now a big presence, that will provide training and skills for further education in Killarney in the south of the county. The Listowel campus upgrade and refurbishment project will really modernise that facility, which I was delighted to visit. We also have the provision of additional accommodation at Monavalley campus in Tralee. That is not bad. Those are four big projects, which include a new university, Kerry as a university county and Killarney now getting a major new college of further education. We will keep at it.
