Papers of James Meenan – Move of UCD to Belfield

Foreword

We all welcome the decision of the Government to provide for the accommodation needs of University College, Dublin. But whether the new College should be built in the City centre or in the suburbs is hotly debated, and raises issues of great importance for the future of higher education in Dublin.

This pamphlet, which is the work of a research group organised by the Dublin Branch of Tuairim, argues that the proposal to move U.C.D. to the Stillorgan Road is undesirable and unnecessary.

As with other Tuairim pamphlets, the views expressed are those of the authors and not necessarily of Tuairim as a whole.

This pamphlet was originally circulated in stencilled form to members of the Government as well as to educational leaders and other prominent citizens. It attracted considerable attention and was widely accepted as an outstanding contribution towards a solution of the problem with which it deals.

Initially we shrank from the cost of printing the pamphlet, but many of those who read the stencilled copies thought the argument presented so important that they pressed us strongly to give the general public a chance to read it in full. Members of the College staff, graduates and other persons interested in the welfare of the College and the City offered us generous financial support and we decided to go ahead and print.

Tuairim (the name is derived from the Irish word meaning 'opinion') was founded some years ago to encourage young people to formulate, by means of study and discussion, informed opinions on Irish problems, and to influence by means of lectures, writings and speeches, the opinions of the public.

At present Tuairim has eight branches, and others are in the course of formation. The names of secretaries of the existing and the contemplated branches are given on the back cover. Each secretary will be glad to hear from anyone interested in joining the branch in his area.

Anyone interested in buying pamphlets, or in contributing towards the cost of the present or future pamphlets, or in finding out more about the general work of Tuairim should contact the Hon. General Secretary.

13a, Brookville Park, Malahide Road, Coolock, Dublin. Telephone 337670

Donal Barrington President January 1960

L956/1182

UNIVERSITY COLLEGE DUBLIN AND THE FUTURE

A MEMORANDUM FROM A RESEARCH GROUP OF TUAIRIM, DUBLIN BRANCH

on

THE REPORT OF THE COMMISSION ON ACCOMMODATION NEEDS OF THE CONSTITUENT COLLEGES OF THE NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF IRELAND

With Special Reference to the Proposal to Transfer University College, Dublin, to a New Site

Revised Edition

V. A STUDY OF ADJACENT SITES Page A. The Commission's Rejection of Adjacent Sites 44 B. A Reconsideration of these and other Adjacent Sites 45 C. Long-term Expansion 48

VI. SUGGESTIONS TOWARDS A SOLUTION ON PRESENT AND ADJACENT SITES 51

SUMMARY AND GENERAL CONCLUSIONS 54

POSTSCRIPT 57

APPENDICES A. A Note on the College's Efforts to Expand 60 B. Comments on the Views of the College Authorities on the Science Buildings, Merrion Street 61 C. A Note on Alternative Uses for the Stillorgan Road Estates 62 D. A List of Cultural, Educational, and Professional Bodies, Schools and Hostels in the General University Area 64 E. A List of Government and Semi-State Offices in the Area 65 F. Details of the Harcourt Street Station Site 66 G. Sir Eric Ashby's Comments on 'Inefficient Utilisation of Plant' 67 H. Leading Article from 'The Irish Independent' 68 I. An Article from 'Irish Builder and Engineer' 70 J. Some other Views: (i) An Article from 'The Tablet', 72 (ii) Professor Stanford's Views 73 MAP: The Vicinity of Earlsfort Terrace

INTRODUCTION

The essential thesis presented in regard to U.C.D. by the Report of the Commission on Accommodation Needs of the Constituent Colleges of the National University of Ireland is that, while it is desirable to seek a solution for the urgent accommodation needs of the College by expansion from the present sites, such a solution is impracticable.

We accept the basic fact that U.C.D.'s accommodation needs are urgent and must be met without delay. We differ emphatically from the Commission in its belief that those needs cannot be met except by moving to Stillorgan Road.

The cost of a complete new College must be borne in mind, but this is not the only factor involved; we believe and hope to establish, that the move would have grave consequences, both for the College and for the City. The future of higher education in Dublin would be radically affected and the cultural and educational centre of the Capital would be disintegrated.

The Commission by devoting its attention primarily and almost entirely to matters of space and sites, and by not fully investigating all the other very important factors involved, recommended a move to the suburbs. Having done that, it did not even thne fully consider and give due weight to all the consequences of the proposal.

We are convinced that the Commission is in fact wrong in its belief that expansion is impracticable from the present sites: it follows that the decision to move to the Stillorgan Road must be considered in the light of the consequences to which we have referred.

In short, the Stillorgan Road project is, in our view, both unnecessary and undesirable.

6 U.C.D. and the Future

1. THE COMMISSION AND ITS REPORT

The Commission on Accommodation Needsof the Constituent Colleges of the National University of Ireland was appointed on 26th September, 1957. Its terms of reference were: 'To enquire into the accommodation needs of the constituent colleges of the National University of Ireland and to advise as to how in the present circumstances, these needs could best be met.'

The Report of the Commission was published on 2nd June, 1959. It consists of four chapters, the first of which, on the needs of U.C.D., had been presented to the Government as an interim report on 14th June, 1958; the second on U.C.C. was presented on 18th October, 1958; whilst the third on U.C.G. and the concluding chapter were presented on 1st May, 1959.

The first chapter and the concluding chapter give the Commission's view that the space requirements of U.C.D. cannot be met on or near its present site, and that the only solution is for the College to move to a site on the Stillorgan Road over a period of five to ten years. The Commission further recommends that the Government should make £6,700,000 available to the College over this period for building needs.

Narrow View of Terms of Reference

The Commission admits (Report p.3) that 'other solutions might present themselves if the terms of reference had invited views upon co-ordination within the University or over a wider field.'

We do not believe that the Government intended to fetter the Commission by limiting the possible solutions to the problem. Neither can we agree that its terms of reference compelled it to treat each College as if it existed in isolation and to exclude all examination of the possibility of co-ordination within the N.U.I. (leaving the 'wider field' aside for the moment).

It was not, for example, excluded by the terms of reference from considering the duplication of faculties (particularly the expensive medical and technological faculties) within the N.U.I. Can, or need, the N.U.I. adequately develop its three medical schools or its three engineering schools?

In fact, the Commission did insert one recommendation in this regard, when it says (Report p.77): 'The provision for the accommodation needs of the Faculty of Agriculture in University College, Dublin will require adjustment if a full Faculty of Agriculture is established in Cork.' But why the reference to agriculture only - what about medicine, engineering and the sciences.

Such questions were, we maintain, well within the terms of reference of the Commission and should have been considered by it particularly as it was required to consider the needs of the N.U.I. within the framework of present conditions. The financial considerations involved in duplication and triplication of faculties are of paramount importance.

The Minister for Education at the first meeting of the Commission (15th October, 1957) said that 'it would be their task to examine the problems objectively and to relate them to the national need.' This latter task the Commission failed to accomplish.

Dublin's University Area 7

Taking its narrow view of the terms of reference, the Commission has attempted to produce an answer to a purely artificial question: 'What would be the needs of each College of the N.U.I., if it existed in isolation, serving the community immediately surrounding it, and if no other institutions of higher learning or of medical, agricultural or technological education existed in the country?'

To this hypothetical question the Commission has provided one answer. But we are as far as ever from a realistic solution of the problems of university education in Ireland, or even of the problems of U.C.D. Indeed, we hold that the Commission's recommendations on U.C.D. have only bedevilled the matter.

Haste in Deliberation

The Commission may partly be excused for its narrow view of the terms of reference by the fact that it was under considerable pressure to complete its study rapidly owing to the urgency of the accommodation needs of the colleges and particularly of U.C.D. It is regrettable if the Commission allowed itself to be rushed by this. A temporary solution by limiting student numbers, or by providing temporary accommodation, would have been preferable to an incomplete examination of the problem.

This was the first public examination in many years of any part of the Irish university question and the very first examination of U.C.D.'s acquisition of the Stillorgan Road estates. It took place at a time critical to the development of the Irish universities and of higher education in general including, in particular, technological, medical and agricultural education. The times are critical also in the wider spheres of national economics and industrial development, spheres in which the universities will have to play an important role. After so many years of official inactivity in the matter of the University College, the fullest, unhurried consideration should have been given to all the factors involved.

II. DUBLIN'S UNIVERSITY AREA

Advantages as a University Site

Few, if any, capital cities in Europe have within their university areas as much open space as exists in Dublin in the area extending from Trinity College southwards to the Grand Canal. We, have, in turn, College Park, Merrion Square, Leinster Lawn, St. Stephen's Green, Iveagh Gardens and 'the Lawn.'

Further, the built-up areas between and around these open spaces have a very low density of building. Virtually all the existing buildings in the area were dwelling houses (though now converted, in most cases, to office use) having long back gardens and, frequently, extensive mews (vide - the area between Merrion Square South and Baggot Street, or between Lr. Earlsfort Terrace and Leeson Street, or between St. Stephen's Green East and Pembroke Street).

University College, Dublin, is not hampered in its desire for expansion, as were older universities in other capitals, by being surrounded by edifices of great historical, cultural or architectural value (as in Paris, Rome, Madrid, Vienna) or by extremely valuable commercial property of very high density (as in Stockholm, Copenhagen, London or in the British industrial cities).

10 U.C.D. and the Future

in such a proposal is the capital cost involved (but see Section III D below). However, it costs nothing to take a decision and to make a plan which could be gradually implemented enabling other interests to formulate long-term plans.

One might consider in turn various possibilities for U.C.D. if any one of the following Government offices were to be moved:

(a) External Affairs from St. Stephen's Green, South (b) The Office of Public Works from St. Stephen's Green, East, and Earlsfort Terrace. (c) The Department of Agriculture from Upper Merrion Street. (d) The Land Commission and adjacent offices from Upper Merrion Street.

(a) External Affairs: These buildings adjoin property already held by the College on St. Stephen's Green and might become the administrative centre for the College. Iveagh House might provide an official residence for the President of U.C.D.

(b) Office of Public Works: Nos. 50 & 51 St. Stephen's Green (once the home of the College of Science, before the Merrion Street block was built) might form a fine administrative centre for the College and act as a link between Merrion Street and Earlsfort Terrace. The houses occupied by the Office of Public Works in Earlsfort Terrace would prove a welcome addition to the College property, presenting a frontage of 220' along Hatch Street.

(c) Department of Agriculture: The removal of certain Government offices from the main Merrion Street block would go a long way to providing for all needs of the science departments already housed there. The removal of all Government offices and the transfer of the Engineering faculty to a new site would provide more than enough space for all the needs of Chemistry, Botany, Zoology and Geology at present located in that building.

(d) The Land Commission and Adjacent Offices: The Land Commission and the offices of the Comptroller and Auditor General occupy a number of Georgian houses in Upper Merrion Street. On the west side they have a total frontage of 450', the depth ranging from 85' through 140' to 300'. The evacuation of these houses would also help the College. The existing Government and Science buildings on the west side of Merrion Street were built on the site of a similar Georgian terrace acquired for the purpose by compulsion about 1903.

We understand that the work of the Land Commission is gradually decreasing. Could not these houses be made available to the College as the Land Commission staff gradually shrinks?

Further there are grounds for believing that many of the Georgian houses are drawing towards the end of their useful lives. Some are so far gone as to be in need of extensive repair amounting to complete reconstruction, or replacement - witness the fact that two Georgian houses occupied by Government offices in Kildare Place had to be pulled down in recent years because of their dangerous condition. Much of Georgian Dublin in this general area must, sooner or later, be completely reconstructed or replaced, irrespective of any plans for U.C.D.

Dublin's University Area 11

A Comprehensive Plan Needed

We urge that serious consideration be given to the idea that any reconstruction or replacement in the area should take place in the interests of higher education, and of the universities in particular, in the furtherance of a plan to preserve the general area for cultural and educational purposes.

The question of U.C.D. requirements, whether they are to be fulfilled by expansion from the present site or by complete removal to ouside the central city area cannot be considered in isolation. The question involves essentially a problem of town planning in a most important area of the capital.

An overall detailed development plan for the area should be prepared without delay by a suitable planning authority, armed with the necessary powers to see that the plan is implemented as circumstances and the degree of national prosperity permit.

As a minimum there should be retained in this area the universities, the Institute for Advanced Studies, the College of Art, the National Library, and the National Museum, or at least its Division of Irish Antiquities and the botanical, zoological and geological collections. To remove any one of these collections from the area to, say, Kilmainham, whilst transferring U.C.D. to the Stillorgan Road, would be unjustifiable.

The alternative to a long-term plan is the gradual disintegration of the area. The conflicting pressures within it will lead in time to many of the institutions concerned leaving the district one by one. If the ideal of the planners of this complex of cultural and educational buildings is to be preserved, action now is imperative.

Mr. de Valera's Views

We are happy to note that His Ecellency, President de Valera, speaking as Chancellor of the National University, on the occasion of the Golden Jubilee Celebrations a year ago and some six months after the Commission had presented its first interim Report (which contained their recommendations in respect of U.C.D.) expressed himself in the following terms (we quote from the "Irish Press," 4th December, 1958);

"Once he had had the idea that the portion of the city running from Hatch Street and Earlsfort Terrace down to Pearse Street, including Kildare Street and Merrion Street, might become the cultural centre of the city.

They had there the great libraries -- the National Library; the library in Kildare Street of the Academy, and the National Gallery of Art, and the National Museum.

As a temporary measure the Parliament was brought into that area. It was intended to be temporary at the time, and he had the hope that with the College of Science at hand they might be able to use that area to meet some of the pressing needs of U.C.D., so that the whole area, including Trinity College, with its magnificent library, would become the cultural centre of the city. Financial and other difficulties arose and that had become an impossible dream.

12 U.C.D. and the Future

Mr. de Valera said that the accommodation needs of the colleges were such now that he was afraid that to think of reviving any such project would mean further delay. His view had been that if they took the Parliament buildings to another site, they could make room there for the necessary extension of the cultural institiutions.

'In fifty years time,' he added, 'I hope the National University will have a suitable home in Leinster House.'"

We do not agree that the dream is impossible. Given that the Government is willing to spend sums of the order of those recommended by the Commission and that, if these, some millions are in fact to be spent on acquiring new premises for Government use, we submit that the general reshuffling of buildings and sites that is to take place in any event can be made in such a way as to keep U.C.D. in the central area. We note that despite Mr. de Valera's doubts about the possibilities in the immediate future, he nonetheless feels that within fifty years (and that is the foreseeable future for the younger generation) the House of the Oireachtas may have to depart from Merrion Street. And if they must depart, so will many of the Government departments. There will be little point in then handing over the Merrion Street area to the N.U.I. for purely administrative and ceremonial functions.

We maintain that incalculable damage will be done by not reviving the scheme now. We cannot believe that U.C.D., or any group, would be so shortsighted as to hinder the development of the logical plan - which would ultimately redound to the lasting benefit not only of the College, but of our whole cultural and educational future.

The consideration of such a long-term plan need not at all delay the relief of the overcrowded conditions under which the College labours. As we indicate later in Sections IV- VI, the sites at present held by the College are sufficient for all the present needs as estimated by the Commission and in addition we believe that adjacent sites could also be acquired, and that these would be sufficient for the estimated future 20% expansion.

It is not yet too late for the great ideal as expressed in Mr. de Valera's speech to be realised. But it is the eleventh hour. Once large-scale building operations for U.C.D. are commenced on the Stillorgan site, the opportunity may be gone forever.

III. PROBLEM INVOLVED IN THE PROPOSED MOVE OF U.C.D.

A. THE EFFECTS ON THE VARIOUS FACULTIES

It is obvious that the proposed move of U.C.D. to the Stillorgan Road site will present problems, some of them serious to both staff and students. Even if, and when, halls of residence are built there to house all the students from outside Dublin, 37% (the 1953 - 54 figure) of the students will have their homes in Dublin. Unless these students happen to live in the immediate vicinity, or near the Bray Road, attendance at the College would usually involve travelling to near the city centre and then out again if they rely on public transport. The same problems of inconvenience and waste of time will also face even the whole-time staff of the College to at least some extent.

Problems in the Proposed Move 13

When detailed consideration is given to the effect of the move on the various faculties, particularly those which are essentially engaged in professional training, it will be seen that the problems are far greater than those outlined above.

Medicine

The effects of removal on students and the weakening of ties with the teaching hospitals and other medical schools, etc., will be dealt with in Section III B of this Memorandum. But the effects on the teaching staff which in many departments of the faculty is largely, if not entirely, parttime, and is also engaged in the professional practice of medicine, must be considered.

Apart from the staffs of the preclinical departments a high proportion of the professors and virtually all of the lecturers are part-time. Even some professors who are full-time are allowed a limited amount of private professional practice. The 'Clinical Tutors' are also full-time, but confine their activities to the hospitals and have no duties on the College premises.

The College Calendar lists a large number of these part-time teachers, the great majority of whom are clinical teachers at the recognised hospitals and do not attend at the College buildings. Approximately forty of them, however, do teach on the College premises and it will certainly prove inconvenient for these busy practitioners, who have both hospital duties and private consulting rooms in the city, often close to Earlsfort Terrace, to have to travel in and out to Stillorgan Road to give their one-hour lectures or demonstrations.

Architecture

All but one of the College staff in this faculty are part-time and engaged in professional practice. The students take a considerable part of their course in the first, second and fourth years at the College of Art in Kildare Street. Both students and staff make considerable use of the excellent library of the R.I.A.I. in Merrion Square, and will want to make frequent use of the Building Centre in Baggott Street. All of these important activities would be disrupted by a move to Stillorgan Road. Our views on architectural teaching in the city are outlined in Section III E of this Memorandum.

Law, Commerce, Economics

Here again the College has to rely almost entirely on part-time teachers from the professions. Barristers, bankers, accountants and similar part-time teachers from the professional and commercial world with heavy demands on their time obviously would find it more convenient to lecture at Earlsfort Terrace than at Stillorgan Road. Law students are compelled by the regulations of their profession to attend at the King's Inns or the Four Courts or the offices to which they are apprenticed, for lectures or other duties in addition to their attendance at the College. At present there is considerable difficulty in arranging suitable lecture hours for these students. Removal to Stillorgan Road would seem to necessitate the employment of full-time university teachers in these