merrion street

The Minister for Education and Skills, Ruairí Quinn T.D. has given the go ahead for the construction of new facilities and a major refurbishment of existing amenities at St. Patrick’s Teacher Education College in Drumcondra. When complete, the college will be able to comfortably accommodate 2,500 students. The existing college was built to accommodate 800 pupils but more than 2,000 students are currently studying there.   The new facilities will include approximately 12,000m² of new student facilities and the refurbishment of 6,000m² of existing facilities at a cost to the Exchequer of €39.7m. “The funding I am making available to St. Pat’s will mean that the college is equipped to provide the best possible learning experience to our student teachers,” said Minister Quinn. It is expected that up to 400 direct and indirect jobs would be created in the construction project over 2 years.   

Minister Quinn recently requested the Higher Education Authority to examine the structures of teacher education provision. “I have already announced changes to the content and length of teacher training courses, with much more emphasis on the actual skills of teaching especially in literacy and numeracy.  Now, I also want to see structural reforms in the provision of teacher training.” “This good news for St Pat’s will also ultimately be good news for teacher education as we move towards centres of excellence and encouraging more formal links between colleges and universities”, the Minister concluded.  

The major investment in St. Patrick’s College will alleviate problems of over-crowding, up-grade old and inadequate teaching laboratories and science facilities and address access issues for the disabled. Services and utilities will also be improved and lecture theatres and halls will be made fit for modern teacher training purposes. J.J. Rhattigan & Co. has been awarded the contract for the construction after a competitive tender.