Carysfort College - Closure

Closure

In 1986 the Minister for Education Gemma Hussey announced the decision to close the 111-year old College. She attributed the decision to "falling pupil numbers, a young teaching force, which was giving rise to few retirements, and the need to contain public expenditure and achieve 'a better allocation of resources.'". The state had invested several million pounds in renovations that were completed in 1983. The Sisters of Mercy, the owners, had the property valued at IR£20 million from the sale of the lands and buildings, and agreed to pay the State IR£1.7 million. The most developed 20 acres (81,000 m²) of the estate, including the main buildings, were eventually sold to University College, Dublin (UCD) in 1991 for IR£8 million, after much speculation - it was not an unusual thing for the state to get property at a much reduced price at the time. This also led to further controversy as it was claimed that the university college was forced to purchase a property that it neither needed nor wanted - especially as its Belfield campus nearby was more than adequate for future expansion.

Many of the academic staff of the college transferred, on closure, to: St. Patrick's Teacher Training College (Drumcondra), NIHE (Dublin) (now Dublin City University), St. Patrick's College, Maynooth (now NUI Maynooth), Trinity College, Dublin and University College, Dublin.

The last graduation ceremony at Carysfort College in October 1988, Seamus Heaney composed some Valedictory Verses.