It seems the merger of Waterford IT and IT Carlow could be facing a further setback.
Members of the Teachers Union of Ireland in WIT have voted to reject the new Memorandum of Understanding for the Technological University.
Those involved in the union say they have ongoing concerns and little progress has been made to reassure them.
Speaking to WLR News this evening, WIT Branch Secretary of the TUI, Kathleen Moore Walsh says they felt had no choice:
"The branch rejected the memorandum of understanding today. The ballots were opened and it was a resounding rejection.
"There were a number of problems, but the biggest problem was that for the last 18 months we've been trying to progress issues of concern to our members and we haven't been able to get anything regarding the MOU changed.
"We were left in a holding pattern while issues continued to develop and problems arose."
A number of weeks ago, WIT President, Willie Donnelly, had said he expected the merger to be completed by January of next year, 2022.
However, it's unlikely that the application will now be submitted before these issues with the TUI members are rectified.
The Memorandum was previously rejected by IT Carlow's members back in 2019 but, according to the WIT Branch, little progress was really made since then.
It remains to be seen what exactly will now happen in terms of the merger application, and how lengthy this latest delay will be.
