Tipperary Institute won't close, vows chief
The chief executive of Tipperary Institute has vowed that it will remain open despite calls for its closure in the controversial Bord Snip Nua report.
The county's third level institute with a campus in both Clonmel and Thurles was targeted in the report which is looking for €5 billion in cuts in services nationwide.
Now the move to save Tipperary Institute is likely to be the first of many public campaigns throughout South Tipperary as towns battle to save vital local services such as schools, garda stations and health services.
This week Chief Executive of Tipperary Institute Padraig Culbert insisted that it was here to stay and said he was confident that TI would be one of the key economic drivers for the county in the years ahead.
"The bottom line is that there has and always will be a clear need for Tipperary Institute and our focus continues to be on delivering the best possible education to our current and future students." he said.
The TI chief was backed by Oireachtas members this week who vowed to support the continuation of third level facilities in Tipperary. Fine Gael TD Tom Hayes said the TI was an invaluable resource and its closure would be foolish and nonsensical. Fianna Fail TD Mattie McGrath said Bord Snip was only a report and he insisted that TI had to remain. Senator Phil Prendergast said the work of the TI was vital and she was opposed to any move to close it. North TIpp TD Michael Lowry said Tipperary needed a vibrant and dynamic third level college and he was committed to maintaining that.
The report recommended the abolition of the TI and said the case for its continued existence was weak.
"The institute is located near two other institutes and has a high complement of staff (100) compared to the number of full-time
students (338). The Group recommends that the institution be closed with existing students re-assigned to nearby colleges. The campus should be disposed of for the benefit of the Exchequer." said the report.
Mr Culbertsaid they were disappointed with the recommendations but said everybody involved was looking forward to its continued growth over the coming years and decades.
He said that student numbers will break the 1,000 mark for the first time at TI next year and they were looking ahead and concentrating on the new academic year.
He said - "Quite simply, the recommendation for Tipperary Institute in the report simply does not add up when you analyse the return on investment from TI, from both and educational and economic perspective. First and foremost, the recommendation flies completely in the face of the internationally proven policy, adopted by our Government, of utilising third level education to be one of the corner stones of economic recovery”.
In response to the recommendation of closure by Colm McCarthy, Padraig Culbert said he believed there was no proper economic analysis done in relation to the Tipperary Institute recommendation.
He argued that the TI was worth €35m to the county annually. The government’s grant to the TI this year was €8.9m. When repayments to the government in the forms of PAYE, PRSI and VAT were accounted for, the actual expenditure by the government was closer to €4.9m.
“The report does not make any reference to the very impressive trend of growth in student numbers at TI, which saw a 100% increase in the first year intake last September alone and another 20% this September, which is significantly ahead of national trends. Student numbers next year are predicted to break the 1,000 mark for the first time and this is a dramatic increase on the figures relied on in making the recommendation.
“Indeed, if the current rate of increase for student intake continues, it could, resources permitting, result in a full-time
Continued on Page 2
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Wednesday 23 May 2012
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