Board members meet SOLAS over new campus proposal
News that, a new €40M Further Education and Training (FET) Campus of the Future in Cavan Town is one of 10 projects competing for funding, came as a surprise to some members of the Cavan Education and Training Board (CMETB). They were under the impression that Taoiseach Simon Harris had already committed funding for the project while he was Minister for Further Education & Training.
The Celt can reveal that CMETB officials met with representatives of SOLAS at the education authority’s Dublin HQ to discuss its plans for the new campus, which would serve 1,000 students at Cavan Institute on the Cathedral Road. They are currently “awaiting feedback” on the proposal.
In mid-January, the ETB submitted a Preliminary Business Case, as requested, to SOLAS, the further education and training authority in Ireland. The Department for Education will evaluate each project under a range of criteria such as value for money, affordability and strategic policy.
The Cavan submission was made under the College of the Future Major Projects Fund, and covered a range of different options with costings, architectural considerations and economic and carbon emissions/ climate action appraisals for each potential outcome.
An update was given to board members at their May meeting at The Workhouse in Carrickmacross last week. News that the CMETB project is one of 10 vying for capital funding surprised some Board members.
Most had been operating under the belief that former Minister for Further and Higher Education, Simon Harris, had committed to the investment for Cavan when cutting of a ribbon on new modular accommodation at the former Dun Uí Neill barracks site in September last year. His comments appeared to double down on an earlier commitment during a visit here in December 2022.
In September he said: “Under the Department’s FET College of the future Major Projects Fund, a huge project has already been approved for the development of a 1,000-pupil facility for Cavan Institute, which is proceeding to the next stage of the assessment process as we speak.”
Speaking at last week’s meeting, Director of Organisation Support and Development (OSD), Karen McBride, said they are now simply “awaiting feedback” on the submission.
The college is also waiting to hear back from the ESB on plans to upgrade a substation near the Dun Úi Neill site, before the institute can press ahead with planned electrical upgrades there. SOLAS is funding the emergency works.