University resists pressure to sell land to school

NUI Galway has denied entering into any agreement to sell land to one of the city's largest secondary schools to facilitate the school's relocation.

Management and staff of St Joseph's College have appealed to parents to lobby city councillors to rezone an eight-acre site owned by NUIG at Dangan in Newcastle from recreational to institutional use.

This would allow the college to relocate from its city-centre premises at Nun's Island, where 780 students and 50 staff members are restricted for space.

The city council has already agreed to rezone the Nun's Island site from institutional to residential, and the sale of this prime site would allow the school to move ahead with its plan to relocate to a larger site.

However, in a letter to members of Galway City Council yesterday, Prof James Ward, NUIG vice-president for physical resources, confirmed that the university had not decided to dispose of any of its land at Dangan.

Prof Ward explained that in its pre-draft submission to the city development plan, the university sought the rezoning of lands at Dangan "in response to overtures from a number of institutional, including educational, interests and in the event that the lands become surplus to university requirements in the life of the development plan".

The current amendment to the draft plan stipulates that this land would be rezoned from recreation and amenity to community, cultural and institutional use, specifically for the development of a post-primary school.

Prof Ward pointed out that this put them in a position whereby the lands could not be used for a university development.

The vice-principal of St Joseph's, Mr Jim Brennan, warned that the school may have to restrict student intake if city councillors fail to give the go-ahead for the rezoning of an alternative site. " If we didn't have the use of the Patrician Monastery across the road, we would have to cutback our student intake by 200."