Plan for new €30m college campus in Dunboyne

A NEW €30 million campus for Dunboyne College of Further Education could be on the cards following a commitment by Education Minister Simon Harris at a recent meeting with the Louth Meath Education and Training Board.

The Minister gave his full commitment to move forward with proposals for a new campus for the Dunboyne facility and will meet with the Board again in July with a positive announcement regarding the purchase of the new site and the planning and construction of a new campus.

Cllr Nick Killian, chair of the college's Board of Management welcomed the announcement.

“It is a long time coming, in particular for students and staff,” he said.

Dunboyne College of Further Education was founded in 2003 and now caters for over 1,000 students.

It currently operates from a number of buildings in Dunboyne Business Park, offering courses in nursing, social studies, art, pre university courses, childcare, special needs assistance, health service skills and food science.

At the recent Zoom meeting with the Minister, CEO of the LMETB, Martin O'Brien outlined the urgent need to proceed with a new campus on a site yet to be purchased.

He called on the Minister to assist in ensuring the funding required for this large project for Dunboyne is made available. Denis Leonard, the College Principal gave a progress report on the college's range of courses for the new academic year.

He said the college operates across 18 buildings and the range of courses increase year by year. Again this year the college has received a very large number of applications far in excess of the 1000 students it can cater for.

Minister Harris said the Dunboyne campus would be one of the first major projects for his new Department of Further and Higher Education and would be given priority.

Cllr Killian thanked the Minister and looked forward to a good news announcement this summer. He also praised the strong leadership of the CEO Martin O'Brien and the enormous work by Denis Leonard over the years building the college from small number of students, to being one of the leading colleges of education serving the students of Meath, West Dublin and beyond.

The meeting which was organised by Minister Helen McEntee TD, was also attended by board member, Cllr Maria Murphy, Sadie McDermott Director of Further Education LMETB and Sinead Murphy, Principal Officer Buildings, LMETB and senior department officials.