Barracks will be in full use by 2014 - VEC

The building committee of the County Cavan Vocational Education Committee (VEC) will meet this Friday to put together an application for funding to renovate the former army barracks on the Dublin Road for use as an educational facility. The CEO of the VEC, Colm McEvoy, told The Anglo-Celt on Monday that planning permission is expected to come through at the end of this month, following which the sale of the campus to Cavan VEC will be complete. Mr McEvoy is hopeful that the facility will be "fully operational the way we'd like it" within the next two years. It's intended to transfer all sports related courses attached to Cavan Institute to the Dún Úi Néill site, as well as trade courses and the music and performance courses. As part of the plans, the VEC will provide a theatre with seating for 110 people to be used by the institute, schools locally and also other groups in the community. Mr McEvoy said that it's also hoped to run professional cookery courses at the Dublin Road campus. "It will be a Further Education and training campus primarily for Cavan Institute to meet its accommodation needs though it will also be available for adult classes or literary classes should the VEC wish to use it," he explained. Speaking of the funding needed to convert the barracks appropriately for use by the VEC, Mr McEvoy said "we're not talking big money". He added: "It's not structural but about changing what's there to suit our needs." The facility on 17 acres has 80,000 sq ft of accommodation and parking for about 260 vehicles. Cavan Institute is already using the parts of the campus that are suitable for its needs such as the state-of-the-art gym located there. The permission to immediately use the facility is part of the caretaker agreement in place pending planning permission and the completion of the sale. Elite sports course The confirmation from Mr McEvoy that an application is being put together for funding came in the same week that Cavan Institute announced that KG Elite Performance will be offering a strength and conditioning course in the gym of the Dún Úi Néill facility. Speaking about this development, Philip McDonald, assistant principal, Cavan Institute, said that the availability of the facilities at the former army barracks meant that the Institute could now offer additional training and courses locally. "This course is aimed at team coaches, sports therapists, physiotherapists, physical training instructors or individuals who have experience of having trained at a high level and who want do strength and conditioning with teams or individual athletes. It means that instead of having to travel, they can complete the course locally in state-of-the-art facilities." The course, which is run over four days, provides coaches with precise coaching models for Olympic lifting, sprinting, plyometrics, programming and periodisation, as well as functional screening using Movement Compensation Screen (MCS). It will be delivered by Karl Gilligan. Karl has extensive experience working in elite sport having worked with the Ireland U19 rugby team, Leinster rugby, Olympic athletes, professional golfers, county football teams and Eircom premier league teams. At the end of the course, participants will receive their Certificate in Strength & Conditioning from KG Elite Performance. This will provide participants with CPD/CEU points towards UKSCA and Irish Association of Physical Therapists (IAPT) memberships and 300 Continuing Education Credits (CECs) for NCEF/PEAI qualified instructors (1987-2006). On successful completion, participants can progress onto a six-month course, which is hoped will be offered in Cavan Institute and on successful completion can then progress onto the BSc in Strength and Conditioning in St Mary's University in London. Further information on other courses, sports related or otherwise, can be obtained from Cavan Institute.