Kilkenny’s FET College moves to the next stage with the purchase of a major site and sanction to move to the Planning and Design Stage
Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science Patrick O’Donovan TD announced the purchase of a site that will be home to a new College of the Future in Kilkenny on Tuesday evening 22 October.
Government funding worth tens of millions of euro will drive the development of the site at Joinersfolly, south of Kilkenny City, creating a new state-of-the-art education and training campus for Kilkenny Carlow ETB (KCETB), and consolidating the delivery of skills provision for the county.
KCETB have also today been given the green light to proceed to the next stage of development of this project, with sanction been given to begin the Pre-Tender – Project Design, Planning, and Procurement Strategy stage of development.
Speaking at the announcement, Minister O’Donovan said: “I am so delighted to be in Kilkenny to confirm that KCETB is moving to the next stage in the process of delivering a further education and training campus that the entire region can be proud of.
“We are signing for the purchase of a 15-acre site and I’m incredibly excited to see it become a campus that will deliver so much for the learners, staff and community of Kilkenny Carlow ETB.
“Back in 2022, my predecessor Simon Harris announced that Kilkenny had been chosen as one of the locations to develop a further education and training College of the Future.
“It is not ideal that FET provision in Kilkenny has been scattered around 15 different locations in the city. Now provision will be brought together at one modern, high-spec facility where learners will have the opportunity to progress in the best possible facilities.
“This is what we mean about when we speak about driving parity of esteem across the tertiary sector – it shouldn’t matter where you live, what you are studying, or whether you are in FET or university. Everyone should have the same opportunity to reach their potential.”
“The project will consolidate existing provision, incorporate new training programmes and specialisms, and develop support services at one location with convenient transport access and services.”
In welcoming the Minister to Kilkenny, Councillor Andrea Dalton, Chairperson of KCETB warmly welcomed the announcement saying, “This is a great day for KCETB and I extend warm congratulations to the executive team and our current and previous board members for their commitment and support for this project. It will bring enormous benefits for students in the years ahead.”
KCETB Chief Executive Eileen Curtis said: “Today’s announcement is wonderful news for KCETB and, in particular today for Kilkenny city and county and marks an important step forward in the delivery of the college campus.
“The proposed new integrated FET college has been a key strategic priority for KCETB and will transform the learning opportunities available across our communities. It will provide for the future skills needs of local industries and create a talent pipeline of graduates available to live and work in Kilkenny.
“Today’s announcement is a real vote of confidence in the area. It will ensure that Kilkenny with this new campus can provide a growing range of specialist courses and apprenticeships which will have long lasting benefits for the KCETB area.”
SOLAS CEO Andrew Brownlee said: “This capital infrastructure announcement for Kilkenny College of FET is a milestone moment for FET in the South-East that will drive access to education, lifelong learning and workforce transformation in the region.
“This is a proud day for both SOLAS and Kilkenny and Carlow ETB, and most importantly, it’s an exciting day for all of the current and future FET learners in the Kilkenny and Carlow locality.
“With one in ten adults in Ireland now learning through FET or apprenticeships, the ongoing development of high-quality college environments in key locations such as Kilkenny will play a critical role in meeting the increasing demand for upskilling across our communities.”
In concluding Eileen Curtis, Chief Executive heralded the announcement as a landmark day and outlined that, in KCETB, “we believe that learning has the power to change lives and build communities and our ambition for all our students is that they Flourish through Learning with KCETB. This project will enable us to do that for generations of students in the years ahead.”
All Photographs by Patrick Browne