Carl Kinsella | Senior Editor
Plans are in place to convert Oisín House on Pearse St, currently used by the Department of Social Protection, into student facilities and accommodation, The University Times understands.
Dean of Students, Dr Kevin O’Kelly, who is at the head of the initiative, confirmed that the project, which is designed to “address the challenges students face in securing quality accommodation for the duration of their studies at Trinity”, was at a ‘preliminary stage’.
According to Students’ Union President, Domhnall McGlacken-Byrne, preliminary plans indicate that, of the seven available stories in the Pearse St building, five stories are earmarked for 300 student residences. Several possibilities have been mooted for the remaining space. Options include a student health centre, sports facilities or other various recreational rooms akin to the current JCR in Goldsmith Hall.
McGlacken-Byrne was quick to reflect the assertion by the Dean of Students that the process is still at an early stage, and rooms are unlikely to be available to ease the student housing crisis in the next two years. Due to the preliminary nature of the projects, Dr O’Kelly was unable to expand upon potential costs or a timeline for the project. Indications that a procurement process to appoint a design team has only recently commenced provide confirmation that the plans are in the early stages.
The President of TCDSU, however, remained optimistic, clarifying that “the prospects are exciting indeed,” confirming that his own role in the process is to ensure that the building exists solely to serve students of the college, regardless of how it is populated. McGlacken-Byrne is buoyed by the appointment of the Dean of Students to the role of “official sponsor” of the project, as this means the ethos of “students first” will “hopefully be at the forefront of every decision made”, he said.
Such a renovation would be a warmly welcomed development following a particularly difficult summer in which rapidly increasing rent prices have posed major problems for students hoping to take their place in Trinity College this September. Trinity has felt a direct impact of the rent-hike, having increased its own standard yearly rent by roughly €900 per annum for the academic year 2014/15.
College have already had to amend plans to house first-year scholars in Trinity Hall following a successful quasi-judical challenge by the Scholar’s Committee against the decision, putting further strain on the accomodation situation. Scholars have traditionally been offered accomodation in Trinity’s College Green campus.
It is expected that from the academic year 2015/16, first-year scholars will be housed in Trinity Hall. This, in conjunction with the possibility of 300 further rooms in Oisín House in the next few years, would considerabily ease the on-campus situation.
