“Independent Waterford City Councillor Mary Roche has disputed Cllr Pat Hayes assertion, made in this newspaper last week, that a letter from Education Minister Batt O’Keeffe indicated a ‘no’ decision on WIT’s application for university designation. ‘The application is still very much alive’, she maintained. ‘I can understand the frustration that led to that comment from Pat’, says Cllr Roche, ‘but university designation can and must be given to Waterford and I, for one, remain confident. There is nothing in the Minister’s letter other than statements of fact (i.e. that ITs and universities have different missions) and I do not believe that the Minister has shut the door on this one. On the contrary I think the imperative grows stronger every day …’” (more)
[Tom Young, Munster Express, 27 February]