Assessment of Institute accommodation almost finalised

Engineers have already been on site to evaluate the proposed plans which includes a sizeable extension to existing accommodation

The outcome of the initial strategic assessment of the application for further accommodation for Cavan Institute will be finalised in July.

Confirmation of the development has been provided by the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Simon Harris, in the Dáil.

He gave the update in response to a parliamentary question tabled by Cavan/Monaghan Fianna Fáil TD, Brendan Smith.

Minister Harris told Dáil Éireann: “Following a call for proposals under the FET College of the Future Major Projects Fund, I understand that a Strategic Assesment Report in relation to the Cavan Institute proposal has now been submitted by Cavan Monaghan ETB to SOLAS.”

He added: “The outcome of the initial strategic assessment is expected to be communicated to CMETB in July.”

Welcoming the update, Deputy Smith stated: “This follows on from confirmation to me in Dáil Éireann in February that the Cavan Institute project, previously part of the Department of Education’s School Building Programme, would be advanced as part of the new Further Education and Training capital funding programme.

“Subsequently the Minister stated that funding would be ringfenced within this Programme to deliver the Cavan project,” said Deputy Smith.

Cavan Institute is currently based at a number of different sites across Cavan Town, including on Cathedral Road and at the former Army Barracks on the Dublin Road. The promise of fresh investment, at the Institute's Catheral Road site, follows a major push in recent months for the college to be prioritised for new accommodation.

Cavan Institute, the first dedicated Post-Leaving Certificate College established in the country after it was built in 2004, has been on the Department’s building list for eight years but no substantive plans for a new campus have ever been put forward until last February's announcement.

Since the multi-million announcement, engineers have already been on site to evaluate the proposed plans which includes a sizeable extension to existing accommodation that will mould with the vision espoused by Cavan-Monaghan ETB in its aims to develop a ‘FET College of the Future’.

Of confirmation that the initial strategic assessment of the application for further accommodation is soon to be finalised, Deputy Smith said: “I have constantly outlined the advantages of providing additional permanent accommodation at the Institute’s existing campus at Cathedral Road and this project should be advanced as soon as possible.”