Deputy Noonan gave me notice of his intention to raise on the Adjournment the inadequate accommodation at CoACT third level Colleges in Limerick.
Adjournment Debate. - Limerick CoACT Colleges.
(Limerick East): Thank you for allowing me to raise this matter on the Adjournment and for coming in tonight. It is the middle of a long hard week and you are facing another long session next week. I should also like to thank the Minister of State for coming in at this late hour to reply.
CoACT is the generic title given to what in other towns would be known as the Regional Technical College in Limerick. It is a college, in so far as institutions are called colleges, but the schools in which the various departments of the college are housed are scattered throughout the city.
One school of the college — if I may call it that — houses the Department of Engineering and the Department of Building Construction at Moylish. The second part of CoACT is in O'Connell Avenue, several miles away — the School of Professional and Management Studies — which is mostly involved in business. The third school is the Limerick College of Art which is housed in five different locations in the inner city area and caters for all the courses associated with the College of Art.
Approximately 2,000 students are registered, 1,998 is the registered total for the 1989-90 academic year. In student numbers it is far bigger than most of the regional colleges but of course it is overshadowed in Limerick by the size, student population, reputation and the magnificent building of the local university.
The building in Moylish which houses the engineering school was built in 1974 and it had similar specifications to that of an IDA advance factory. It had a flat felted roof, metal deck on steel trusses and columns, plastered and painted blockwork, divider walls, tiled concrete floors and concrete brick outer leaf aluminium windows. Part of the internal area of the building has been converted from a student canteen, library and general purpose area art room to student classrooms simply to accommodate the extra students.
Additional accommodation was provided by the purchase of second hand prefabricated buildings which were erected at the rear of the School of Engineering. The prefabricated accommodation is over 12 years old. All the accommodation was provided from the current budget of the college and no capital allocation was made since it was built in 1974, with the exception of £150,000 in the last couple of years for computer equipment.
The School of Professional and Management Studies at O'Connell Avenue is in two "Bantile" prefabricated buildings. It consists of two single storey blocks with a tiled roof which was built in 1964. There is no sports room or hall or no hard surface sports area in either of the buildings. There are eight car spaces for the staff and any students who would be travelling by car.
The problems with the School of Art, in terms of accommodation, are extremely difficult as it is scattered throughout the city in five locations. George's Quay, formerly St. Ann's vocational school is the main building; rooms have been leased in The Granary, a modern office block structure; the same applies to Bruce House. About two miles away the third floor of the Municipal Technical Institute has been acquired from the City of Limerick VEC, formerly a second level school. There are also students in the School of Professional and Management Studies.
Certificate, diploma and degree courses are offered and the certificate and diploma courses are funded by the European Social Fund. The standard of education and qualification is extremely high. It is validated, so far as the certificate and diploma courses are concerned, by the National Council of Education Awards. Their students enter for the professional exams from the various institutes here and in London and achieve extremely good results.
The quality of the teaching staff is absolutely top class but the problem is that the accommodation is absolutely dire. When we come to the College of Art, spread over five locations, it is amazing that it has the reputation of being the premier college of art in the country. It is a national institution in so far as it draws students from all over the country. With the exception of the initial funding in 1974 they received no capital funding of any sort up to 1989 when £150,000 was provided for computers.
Third level education in Limerick was treated well by Governments in recent years. An enormous amount of money was put into the construction and development of the university. But there is this huge number of students who have to be educated in the most inadequate accommodation anywhere in the country. There are now almost 2,000 students in dire need of proper accommodation. I would ask the Minister to treat them no longer as the forgotten third level students of the country; they should no longer be treated as a Cinderella group. Their needs are as great as those of any of the other locations with regional colleges. There are more students being catered for there than in most of the independent regional technical colleges elsewhere in the country.
That is my case. I understand that funds are being provided by way of the EC Structural Funds programme for third level education accommodation. I understand there is a major budgetary allocation which will be used by the Minister in providing increased and better facilities and the upgrading of existing ones.
I would ask the Minister of State in 1990 to include the CoACT Colleges in Limerick. The solution is fairly simple. The School of Professional and Management Studies and the Engineering and Business School should be located on the one campus at Moylish Park. The College of Art, now in five locations, should be housed in one building in down-town Limerick. I am not suggesting that the College of Art should be taken out of the centre city area.
I should like to thank you, a Cheann Comhairle, for having allowed me raise this matter and the Minister of State for coming in at this late hour.
Limerick College of Art, Commerce and Technology comprises three schools — the School of Engineering, the School of Art and Design and the School of Professional and Management Studies. The college provides an extensive range of courses. The courses are at craft, certificate, diploma and degree levels and are provided on whole-time, block release, day release, part-time and evening bases. As the Deputy said, the School of Engineering is divided into five departments.
The School of Art and Design provides design courses in fashion, products and graphics; art courses in painting, printmaking and sculpture and a diploma for art and design teachers. The School of Professional and Management Studies lays on courses in accountancy, marketing, economic science and German. As the Deputy said, the college operates in a number of different locations throughout the city, the School of Engineering being located in the Moylish Park campus. The School of Professional and Management Studies is located in prefabricated buildings of approximately 1,200 square metres in O'Connell Avenue and caters for over 400 students. The School of Art and Design has an enrolment of approximately 400 students. Again, as the Deputy said, courses are conducted in five locations.
The Department have received proposals from the City of Limerick Vocational Education Committee with regard to the consolidation of the locations of the college. Accordingly, the Department are aware of the accommodation difficulties being encountered by Limerick CoACT. Discussions have already taken place with the college authorities with a view to solving the problems of the college. A detailed study of the requirements of the college is now being conducted by the Department in the context of a proposed building programme which will involve modification and adaptation work in VEC third level colleges. This programme is intended to upgrade and enhance the existing facilities of colleges to enable them achieve their primary objective as providers of trained personnel. Modifications of the colleges are necessary to cater for essential alterations of training programmes and for accommodation of new equipment associated with such alterations. The programme is also intended to relieve space shortages through rationalisation and improved space utilisation levels.
As the Deputy said, provision has been made in the EC Structural Funds programme for the development of facilities in vocational education committee third level colleges. The CoACT college in Limerick will be considered in that context.
The Dáil adjourned at 11.20 p.m. until 10.30 a.m. on Thursday, 17 May 1990.