€40m in funding announced to make colleges across Ireland greener and more accessible 

Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, Simon Harris has today (Monday August 15) announced funding of €40 million which will be invested in universities and colleges across the country to make them greener and more accessible.

Speaking today, Minister Harris said:

“I’m delighted to announce a significant devolved capital grant for the higher education sector to support a range of capital priorities.

“Our third level sector faces significant challenges in responding to climate goals and this fund will assist with making energy
upgrades but also making college campuses greener. It will also ensure our campuses are inclusive and accessible for people with disabilities. It can also be used to help students access laptops or other ICT requirements.

“Across our sector, we can play the lead in responding to the great challenges of our time – how we meet our climate targets, how we make Ireland better for people with disabilities, how we improve access to education for people from disadvantaged backgrounds.

“Previous allocations under the Devolved Capital Grant have delivered tangible benefits for students and staff and complements other Project Ireland 2040 capital investments in the higher education sector”.

Today, we are making a €40million investment to ensure our colleges are greener and more accessible.

The investment will also help colleges access ICT equipment and undertake minor capital works.

An important investment ahead of the new academic yearhttps://t.co/y6LosiKdKM pic.twitter.com/xuxGHQH4zV

— Simon Harris TD (@SimonHarrisTD) August 15, 2022

Green Party spokesperson for Education Senator Pauline O’Reilly has welcomed the announcement to make their facilities more accessible and energy efficient.

The funding can be used for building works to support universal access, energy efficiency upgrades, ICT upgrades, health and safety works and building upgrades.

Senator O’Reilly said:

“This is a really important grant scheme for colleges as many of them need help in achieving their goals around energy efficiency and access.

“It’s important that the buildings we use regularly are fit for purpose and taking the same steps forward that our residential housing stock is set to make in the coming years.

“We also strongly welcome the efforts to improve universal access to our colleges. Often practical barriers can impact decisions around education, and this is not something we can stand for. It is critical that we work to transition all our institutions to universal access, and this will help that.”

Funding will be provided through the Higher Education Authority (HEA) for all Technological Universities, Institutes of Technology and smaller colleges with the exception of RIAM and DIAS who will be funded directly by DFHERIS.