€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.