WATERFORD INSTITUTE of Technology should buy the now closed Waterford Crystal manufacturing plant site which adjoins the campus, Senator Paudie Coffey has claimed. Such a move would provide extra space for the much hoped-for elevation of WIT to the status of a university for the southeast, he said.
Separately, local commercial auctioneer Des Purcell has claimed that the €10-€20 million valuation of the former Waterford site, set by selling agents Savills, is over-optimistic in the current property market.
And Labour TD Brian O’Shea has called on Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment Mary Coughlan to do everything possible to find jobs for the former employees of Waterford Crystal. He called on her to salvage “this sorry situation” in the interests of the workers, who have fared badly since the closure of the plant and the disclosure of the unhealthy state of their pension fund.
Mr Coffey said the sale of the Waterford site represented a once-off opportunity to copper-fasten WIT’s bid for university status. “Urgent steps should be taken to find ways of rezoning the Kilbarry site so that it could only be used for educational purposes,” Senator Coffey said.
In considering the value of the site, Mr Purcell said it was “a dated industrial site”, with its location the only thing going for it. In the current market, there was no chance it would make €20 million, he suggested.
“If the Dell factory in Limerick, a modern purpose-built computer factory, has not sold in two years, I cannot see a huge demand for the Waterford Crystal site,” he said.
Echoing Mr Coffey’s call for WIT to buy the premises, Mr O’Shea called on the Tánaiste to direct the various State agencies to redouble their efforts to find employment for the former employees. KPS Capital, the US-based hedge fund that took over Waterford Wedgwood’s assets and the Waterford Crystal brand name, continues to produce crystal in Germany.
A small tourist version of Waterford Crystal production, involving the production only of high-end pieces of crystal such as trophies and special presentation pieces, is to be started by Waterford city manager Michael Walsh.