€24m building plan to begin at teacher training college

A LONG-AWAITED development to help improve training for the country’s primary teachers is to begin next month under a €24 million building plan announced yesterday.

Student numbers at Mary Immaculate College in Limerick have jumped from about 300 to 2,744 since 1991, but the increase has put huge pressure on space for lectures and other work.

The funding announced by Education Minister Mary Hanafin will allow the college provide lecture theatres, teaching areas, seminar rooms and laboratories in two new buildings on the South Circular Road campus. The project will also provide a 500-seat auditorium that can be used for music, drama and lectures, as well as administration offices and space for the student union and student services.

The work will form the second phase of a campus development master plan in place since 2000, following completion of a multi-purpose sports hall last February.

“We are anxious funding is made available for the next phases in the near future because future students will be denied access to adequate resources without the necessary capital investment,” said college president Dr Peadar Cremin.

“The growth of the student population in recent years has left the college with significant development challenges such as lack of physical space and sufficient resources as well as posing serious health and safety problems,” he said.

The auditorium will be the only one of its size in the city and is expected to make a valuable contribution to Limerick’s cultural life.

The project is due to begin in January and college authorities hope it will be finished by late 2009.