TRINITY NEWS Monday, 16 September 2024
Ireland’s oldest student newspaper
Vol. 71, No. 1
School of physics celebrates 300 years
Why are students going sober?
Review: Emma Lueders takes on Edinburgh Fringe
SciTech Page
Features Page
16-page Life supplement inside
Murder trial of law professor to begin next month David Wolfe Editor-in-Chief
Returning students flood Fellows’ Square as a new term begins. In May, the lawn was the site of Trinity’s Gaza solidarity encampment News page 8
Dartry student accommodation sitting empty after state funding runs dry
The trial of a Trinity law professor and former Board member accused of murder is set to begin next month at the Central Criminal Court. Associate professor Dr Diarmuid Phelan is charged with the murder of Keith Conlon in a shooting at Hazelgrove Farm in Tallaght in February 2022. The trial, which is due to last at least four weeks, was originally due to begin on May 29 but was adjourned until October due to an issue with an expert report which could not be resolved immediately. Conlon, a father of four from Kiltalown Park in Tallaght, died in hospital two days after being shot in the head following a verbal altercation with Phelan News page 2 ››
College ► Building awaiting demolition since 2018 ► Development would add 358 beds ► Local residents object to expansion reports record profits
László Molnárfi Investigative Reporter
The construction of 358 new beds in Trinity Hall (Halls) has been delayed indefinitely after promised government funding did not materialise, leaving the project around €40 million short. The new development is planned to replace Cunningham House on the Halls campus which has remained mostly empty for two years as it awaits demolition under approved plans. The development was expected to be funded under the government’s “short-term
activation scheme”, which financed similar projects in Dublin City University (DCU), Maynooth and University College Dublin (UCD). Of the additional 358 units, 70% would have been provided at university market rates of €10,500 and above in Dublin and 30% at a special rate of €6,971 for the academic term. To date, €60.1 million worth of projects have been funded across 4 higher-education institutions. The news comes amidst an ever-worsening student accommodation crisis. The status of the expansion, first announced in 2018 and expected to be completed by March 2023, is now in limbo. Email correspondence from the Department of Further
and Higher Education seen by Trinity News states that additional “capital funding is required to progress this project to tender” and that the project “will be held at proceed to tender stage in Q2, 2024 subject to additional funding needs.“ Separately, in response to a Parliamentary Question asked by Cian O’Callaghan TD on behalf of TCDSU and USI, Minister Patrick O’Donovan confirmed that the project has passed the due diligence assessment but requires additional funding. The students’ unions, in their joint statement, criticised the government’s “lack of urgency and will to address the student accommodation crisis”.
In the Dáil session, O’Donovan added: “I am continuing to work across Government to identify potential sources of funding to progress the short and long term policies and programmes for student accommodation. My officials stand ready to engage with [Trinity] for progression of this project should additional funding become available under the National Development Plan.” In a statement to Trinity News, a spokesperson for College said “We are keeping lines of communication with government open as to the funding of this project. Until the funding is secured, we are News page 2 ››
Charlotte Kent College News Editor
Trinity collected a record €503.4m in revenue during the 2022/2023 year, according to recently released financial statements. The financial statements, which were published over the summer, show that College recorded a surplus of €3.9m for the year, recovering from News page 2 ››