merrion street

The Minister for Education & Skills, Ruairí Quinn T.D., has given the green light to Co. Monaghan Vocational Education Committee to proceed to the next stage in the construction of a €35 million education campus. Following a tender process, the VEC will now sign contracts with John Sisk & Sons Ltd to commence construction on the new campus.

This is one of the first Department of Education projects where responsibility has been devolved to a VEC. Co. Monaghan VEC will manage the provision of the new Education Campus. It is the largest building project to be funded by the Department this year.

The campus will include new accommodation for a 16 classroom primary school (Gaelscoil Ultain), a 400 pupil post primary school (Gaelcholáiste Oiriall) together with a 700 student Institute of Further Education (MIFET).

It will also include a state of the art theatre which will be the new home of The Garage Theatre. The MIFET will also use the theatre in its further education courses. This facility is being grant-aided by the Department of Education & Skills and the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht to the tune of €3.3 million.

Minister Quinn said, “I want to congratulate Co. Monaghan Vocational Education Committee on the tremendous work involved in bringing this project to construction.”

“This is a shining example of where the local VEC has worked closely with my Department and the Gaelscoil to ensure delivery of a state of the art education campus for the benefit of all in the Monaghan area.”

“The benefits of working with people on a local level are clear in relation to the timeframes achieved with this project.”

The provision of three educational facilities on a 20 acre campus is in line with the Government view that shared campuses are the preferred model for future development of educational infrastructure in areas of demographic growth. The site is a former army barracks in Monaghan Town.

This is a devolved pilot project and has the potential to offer the Department of Education and Skills another mechanism within which school buildings can be delivered in the future. A central tenet of the “devolved” arrangements is that the VEC, as the project manager and client, is required to manage the project within budget parameters assigned by the Department during the various stages of development and delivery.

The master plan for the site seeks to promote synergies between the various education facilities and will promote the sharing of these facilities, for example the Sports Hall, car parking and playing pitches.

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The project for the delivery of three educational facilities on the former army barracks site (approximately 20 acres) in Monaghan town was announced in November 2009. The delivery of the project was devolved to Monaghan VEC as a Pilot project in order to develop mechanisms and standards by which further projects could be devolved. The project has now progressed to contract signing following a tendering process completed by Co. Monaghan Vocational Education Committee.

The total construction costs and fit out costs of the education facilities is over €30m. The VEC intend to hold a special meeting in the afternoon of Friday 12th August 2011 to approve the awarding of the contract to John Sisks & Sons Ltd.

The three schools that will share the campus are

Gaelscoil Untain

Gaelcholáiste Oiriall

Monaghan Institute of further Education and Training (MIFET)

The Gaelscoil has operated on a restricted campus since its establishment in 1986. It has a current enrolment of 239 pupils which is an increase of 22% in the past 5 years. They were not in a position to expand further due to the restricted nature of their existing site.

The all Irish, co-educational post primary school was established in 2004 in the grounds of Beech Hill College under the auspices of Co. Monaghan VEC. It was granted permanent recognition in September 2009. The current enrolment is 179 pupils which is an increase of 163% in the past 5 years.

Monaghan Institute of Further Education & Training (MIFET) was established by Co. Monaghan VEC in 1992 to expand F.E. provision in Monaghan. MIFET offers a wide range of full and part-time vocational courses for Post Leaving Certificate and mature students. All programmes are modular and have internationally recognised certification from FETAC CACHE, ITEC, City & Guilds etc.

This is one of the first and largest projects the Department of Education and Skills has devolved and it affords the VEC an opportunity to demonstrate what they can do at a local level. The “devolved pilot project” has the potential to offer the Department another mechanism within which school buildings can be delivered in the future. A central tenet of the “devolved” arrangements is that the VEC, as the project manager and client, is required to manage the project within budget parameters assigned by the Department during the various stages of development and delivery.