Stephen Kelly says approval of £46.1m for Magee Medical School ‘next big moment’ on road to 10,000 students

The Chair of the Magee Taskforce hopes the monies can be approved in April.

He is also optimistic a Business Case for the expansion programme for Magee will be rubberstamped around the same time, and that the Council’s Planning Committee will grant planning consent for a new €44.5m Teaching and Student Centre (TSC) on the campus’ Northland Road perimeter in the Spring.

Mr. Kelly was speaking as the Magee Taskforce’s One Year Progress Report was unveiled in Derry on Wednesday.

“The good news is we are either on plan or ahead of plan in very many areas. We have a record number of students on campus, the capital plan is on track, the Executive, the Minister and the university have all stood up and delivered the money we have asked for to this point of time but we are now at the most critical point in the project. We have done the easy bit until now,” said Mr. Kelly.

In order to support a further 3,500 students needed to reach the goal of 10,000, money from the Executive's draft three-year revenue budget (day-to-day running costs of expansion) and its four-year capital budget (major capital projects required for growth) must be approved, he explained.

"All we can say is that if future intent can be measured by anything it is on past performance, and certainly I'm very pleased and the Taskforce is very pleased that all our asks to this point in time have been met.

"We should be confident that the Minister will get the money required in her budget to ensure that future development of this campus can finally be realised,” he said.

Mr. Kelly estimated around £170m in public money will be needed for the expansion in the forthcoming Department of Economy budget but these allocations will be broken down across a number of years. Further funding will come during future budget periods.

“People look at big numbers and think that money will never turn up but we are talking about a big number divided into smaller chunks over quite a series of years. In the new budget the Minister will be providing to meet our plan there is about £170m of public money required in terms of those new projects and those new buildings.

"But some of those won't be delivered until beyond the next budget that the minister has. But I'll repeat again, anything we've delivered until this point in time they've delivered upon.”

He reiterated his view that the Taskforce Report and Action Plan has produced a costed and affordable delivery path.

“We know that actually having the precision, having the political buy-in in terms of the Programme for Government, and having an actual plan that is costed across a period of time which shows its affordability, added to by a level of evidence which shows that these are wise investments, means that you can actually get stuff done,” he said.

Recurring costs arising from a projected student population of 10,000 are equally affordable, he believes.

"We've costed all of that. We've published it in our plans. It's about £38m per year, out at 2032,” Mr. Kelly observed.

The expansion will meet rising student demand and staunch the flow of young people leaving these shores for Britain.

"We know about 5,000 people leave here and go to institutions in Scotland or in the North West of England every year...we also know there is a cohort of students for whom university places are just not being made available so we are meeting demand. We are meeting an economic need, a social need, a cultural need and a health need.”

Further critical milestones are expected to be passed shortly.

"The next big moment is the approval of £46m for the Medical School. The Shared Island Building will get planning consent, hopefully, in the first quarter of this year from Derry City and Strabane District Council. But the next big build after that is the Medical School. That's the moment we know we are really in business,” said Mr. Kelly.