A vacant factory in Killarney is set to become the town's first third-level college, focusing on the hospitality sector.
Minister for Further Education Simon Harris is due to make the announcement today.
The 25,000sq.ft former Pretty Polly factory and later Sara Lee and BeoCare medical products centre has been vacant since 2009.
It occupies over seven acres on the eastern edge of Killarney.
When vacated, it was handed over to the town council to be developed for the benefit of the commercial life of the town.
A number of attempts by the former town council and more recently the Killarney MD were not successful.
Expressions of interest were invited in 2019 for a use for the building and a number of proposals were received.
However two tenders for commercial uses were withdrawn because of the economic uncertainty surrounding Covid-19.
Part of the sprawling site is earmarked for social housing by Kerry County Council.
The large building is now to be repurposed as a third-level catering and hotel college and apprenticeship training centre, Minister Harris will announce.
The centre, which will come under the auspices of the Kerry Education and Training Board (Kerry ETB), is to serve Killarney and south Kerry.
There have long been calls for a third-level facility for Killarney with a focus on training for the hotel and hospitality sector, the town's biggest industry which has been hit with a crisis in staff recruitment.
Meetings between Minister Harris, Fine Gael TD Brendan Griffin, Kerry ETB and the hospitality sector took place earlier this year.
The new campus will also include renewable energy, sustainable green technologies and lifelong learning, along with craft apprenticeships.
The plans, which will be announced in detail tomorrow at the Kerry College Admission Offices for what will be known as Killarney Campus, are to deliver training to over 3,000 people in the first year, with numbers to rise to over 3,600 in year three.
Plans are also being announced for a new building at the MTU in Tralee. The building on the Tralee North Campus will serve up to 3,000 students.
