Minister confirms funding go-ahead for new DIT campus: Costello

The Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Brendan Howlin, has announced funding for a new 73-acre campus for the Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT) at Grangegorman, according to Labour's Joe Costello.

The funding is part of the more than €2bn stimulus package announced by the Government today.

The more substantial part of the Grangegorman project is the relocation of more than 20,000 students and 2,000 staff from 39 separate locations across the city to a new 73-acre DIT campus on the Grangegorman site.

The first phase of development is to start immediately, with the renovation of the existing buildings on the site. This will be followed by a ten-year construction program to provide accommodation, lecture halls, libraries, laboratories, and office and administration facilities for students and staff.

A significant part of the site will be reserved for recreational and amenity facilities with new parkland, indoor and outdoor sports facilities, children’s playgrounds, and a second-level school.

The Grangegorman project also involves the relocation of the remaining mental health patients in St. Brendan’s Hospital, Grangegorman, into a new purpose-built facility on an adjacent 20-acre site.

The construction of the new facility is already underway, and it is hoped that it will be completed and the patients transferred to it by the end of the year.

The DIT has agreed a 20% local employment clause on the project and people from the local areas of Cabra and the North Inner City seeking employment will be able to apply online here.

Minister Joe Costello has welcomed the announcement saying it "is the most exciting project in the city of Dublin for very many years".

Minister Costello said "When I visited Grangegorman last Friday with Minister Howlin, he was able to see for himself the tremendous potential of the Grangegorman site and the extensive preparations that have already been made under the direction of his colleague the Minister for Education and Skills, Ruairi Quinn."