Swords in Dublin is a step closer to getting a new College of the Future campus catering for 1,000 students.
It is one of ten locations around the country given the green light to make plans to develop a College of The Future (COTF) to the next stage for capital investment.
Minister for Further and Higher Education Simon Harris said Swords was "one of Ireland's fastest growing areas and this proposed purpose-built Further Education College will help drive the region and will help it prepare the region with the skillset it needs to deliver for the people of Dublin Fingal".
Dublin and Dún Laoghaire Education & Training Board are leading the project and Chief Executive Caitríona Murphy welcomed the decision and said it would enable DDLETB "to deliver on our ambitions for the people of Fingal and surrounding areas".
CEO of SOLAS Andrew Brownlee said: "Today's announcement marks an important step forward for learners and communities in the Fingal area and indeed for Dublin as a whole.
"This is a part of the city which has been underserved by tertiary education as its population continued to grow and grow.
"Now we are proud to see a proposal which would see this situation addressed, in what is an important milestone in the evolution of Further Education and Training (FET) facilities and provision nationwide."
"As we continue to deliver cutting-edge campuses that showcase the very best of FET, we will start to change the hearts and minds of Irish society with regard to school-leaver and lifelong education options," Mr Brownlee said.
Local TD and Minister for Housing Darragh O'Brien said it was a "really important announcement" that "would help in relation to the future skilling of people, certainly within the sector that I am responsible on the construction side."
The proposed site for the new campus is not yet known, but plans are for a "green" campus, with a focus on environmental awareness and energy efficiency.
As part of the proposal, there would also be satellite campuses around Fingal which would encompass community-based learning and there would also be a dedicated campus in Baldoyle Training Centre.
