Vol. 439 No. 5
40 Ms O'Donnell asked the Minister for Education the current status of the UCD Earlsfort Terrace buildings; and the likelihood of a prompt start being made to the second and final stage of the new engineering complex on the Belfield Campus.
The Faculty of Medicine and Departments of Agriculture Engineering and Civil Engineering in UCD are located at Earlsfort Terrace.
There are many advantages to centralising the entire engineering faculty on the one campus at Belfield and it is the policy objective to complete this transfer as soon as possible. However, the capital programmes must be prioritised in terms of the most urgent national needs and within a very specific financial framework.
The Deputy will also be aware of the extensive capital programme which I announced for third level on 13 January 1994. It set out a capital investment of £120 million for third level collegles, most of which will be expended over the period 1994-97. Following detailed examination of UCD's proposals in consultation with the higher education authority, it was decided that UCD's European Regional Development Fund allocation should be targeted at the provision of Microcomputer Facilities. Phase 2 of the Engineering School was not included in the programme.
Discussions are continuing between the higher education authority and my Department with regard to the funding of a number of capital projects including phase 2 of the engineering school.
