Facilities for art and design students will be ready by the end of the month, management in RTC Galway has said.
Delays in completing the facilities at Cluain Mhuire, the former Redemptorist seminary, have obliged students to work in the college gym, a canteen and elsewhere since the start of the academic year.
The centre will be ready by November 1st, said student union president, Mr Emmet Spring. The college has also repeated assurances about catching up on tuition lost through the delay. Meanwhile, the former Minister for Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht, Mr Higgins, clarified recent comments on the issue.
"I stressed that the best future for art in the RTC and the region, and the best prospect for excellence, could be achieved by an integrated approach that saw the city, for example, provide a venue for the exhibition by students of final year and special work," Mr Higgins said.
"I did not say that the RTC had not harassed me enough while I was minister. I said public representatives should be lobbied for an integrated plan rather than a piecemeal approach," he said.