The refurbishment of Limerick city’s oldest third level education college is set for yet further development, due to a Department of Education allocation of 24 million euro.

The money will facilitate the completion of an 11 million euro all-purpose hall, currently under construction and another three-storey building which is due for completion in 2007, and will replace prefab structures that date back to the1950s.

This new 8,348 square metre building will also include a 500-seat auditorium, a 300-seat lecture theatre, two 150 seat lecture theatres, as well as a 100-seat theatre.

College president, Peadar Cremin, the driving force behind the major refurbishment programme, said:

"Our main building was originally built for 780 students but we now have 2,500 students enrolled. For a long time we’ve looked enviously at other institutions but now our turn has come, while up to last year we didn’t have any investment in 30 years,” he said.

Designed by the award-winning Limerick architects, Murray O Laoire, who designed the pedestrian bridge at the University of Limerick, the new Mary Immaculate building will, according to Dr Cremin, be a timber and metallic style structure.

"A lot of the local residents are glad that we’re doing this as the current building is a bit of an eyesore and we’ve an awful lot of visual clutter. We hope that once given the green light by the government, we’ll have a much more attractive campus,” he concluded.

The Mary I president also said that the new development will alleviate conditions for the staff at the Students’ Union, with the inclusion of a student forum, students’ union facilities and a shop/cafe.