Minister for Education Ruairi Quinn has approved the construction of a €35m educational campus in Co Monaghan.
The project, which will be managed by the Monaghan Vocational Education Committee, is the largest building project funded by the Department of Education this year.
The completed campus will include a 16 classroom primary school, a 400 pupil post-primary school and a 700 student Institute of Further Education.
The site being used for the campus is a former army barracks in Monaghan Town.
A state of the art theatre will also be built as part of the project and will act as the new home for The Garage Theatre.
The theatre facility will be grant-aided by the Department of Education and the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht to the tune of €3.3m.
Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht Jimmy Deenihan confirmed the €2m grant from his department and said it would be 'an important addition to the arts and cultural infrastructure in the border region'
Following the minister’s approval, the VEC will sign contracts with John Sisk & Sons Ltd, who won a tender process to construct the new campus.
According to a statement from the Department of Education the 20-acre facility 'is in line with the Government view that shared campuses are the preferred model for future development of educational infrastructure in areas of demographic growth.'
It said that the master plan for the site foresees the three educational bodies on the campus sharing facilities such as the sports hall, car parking and playing pitches.
