Mountbellew Agricultural College has received planning permission from Galway County Council for a new dairy facility at its campus.
Galway County Council granted permission to the college – which serves as a campus of Atlantic Technological University (ATU) – to replace the current facilities with a new suite of buildings.
The new ‘Smart-Dairy’ development will include a milking parlour, animal handling facility, a classroom, training room, viewing gallery, and canteen.
The 1,279m2 dairy building project has been developed by the college in association with ATU and Teagasc.
As part of ATU, Mountbellew Agricultural College delivers agri-business, agri-engineering and agri-environmental courses.
As a partner college of Teagasc, it delivers the Certificate in Agriculture and advanced certificates in dairy management, drystock management and mechanisation.
The proposed facilities will be equipped with the latest technology to allow for “innovative and flexible” new approaches to training and also for supporting sustainable farm production, the college said.
The decision of the county council has been welcomed by Mountbellew’s principal Dr. Edna Curley.
She said: “This announcement is a huge boost for everybody. The new facility will provide our learners with the opportunity to study in new state-of-the facilities, providing an immersive learning experience underpinned by sustainable farm production and performance.
“The facility will vastly improve the quality of our training, and it has been designed to ensure we maintain our ethos of strongly practical applied programmes,” Dr. Curley added.
Also commenting on the proposed facilities, ATU president Dr. Orla Flynn said: “This new development is a big step forward for all our agri-related programmes.
“ATU is proud to be a partner with Mountbellew Agricultural College, and to have such a strong collaboration across a whole range of programmes that are relevant for our region and far beyond.”
Meanwhile, Prof. Frank O’ Mara, director of Teagasc said: “This is a really exciting development in Mountbellew college, and this new facility will enhance the teaching and learning experience for all learners, including those completing Teagasc programmes.
“It’s important that the next generation of farmers in this region have the opportunity to learn and develop their skills in state-of-the-art facilities,” Prof. O’Mara said.
The design of the new facilities at Mountbellew is led by the Grasstec Group.