€3.27m grant announced for the Regional Development Hub located in Coláiste Íosagáin, Baile Bhúirne,

13 May, 2024

min read

The De La Salle brothers built Coláiste Iosagain in 1940. It was used as their school until 1989. Údarás bought it in 1998 and they have owned this historic building ever since.

Michael Creed, TD, said

“It is a  great news story that has been announced this morning by Minister Heather Humphreys that Údarás na Gaeltachta has received a grant of almost €3.3 million to push forward with the renovation of the former boarding secondary school Coláiste Íosagáin in Báil Búirne.”

“This is a very important project for the Múscraí area and for the whole of County Cork. The building will be converted into a Regional Development Hub, providing facilities to stimulate and develop entrepreneurship, provide training and conduct research. The total work will cost almost €9m, but now more than one third of that money has been provided by the Department for Rural and Community Development under the Rural Renewal Scheme.”

“For a long time, I have been making strong efforts at Government level to emphasize the importance of this project. I am very pleased to learn that funding is now available.”

A Regional Development Hub is being developed there. 1,720 square meters (18,500 square feet) of flexible enterprise space will be created, which will be connected by fiber optic, as part of Gteic, the Gaeltacht digital network. The Regional Office of Údarás na Gaeltachta will also be located on the same site. Training and business development supports will be available from the centre, which aims to support the creation of 300 jobs in the coming years.

This project received €2.7m (€2.1m capital) in 2020 from Enterprise Ireland. The Regional Development Hub will create additional employment opportunities and expand and strengthen the enterprise base locally. The proposal is being undertaken as a partnership proposal with regional stakeholders who act as project partners with the Gaeltacht Authority such as Cork County Council, UCC, MTU, BOO Cork, South East Regional Skills, South East Skillnet Business Network and Enterprise Ireland.