A year ahead of its planned closure, All Hallows College in Drumcondra has been sold to near-neighbours Dublin City University.
The 6.74 hectare (16.66 acre) site was put up for sale last September with a €14 million price tag.
In a statement, All Hallows College said it was pleased to announce that preliminary contracts had been signed with DCU.
The agreement would secure the educational mission of the campus and facilitate existing students in the completion of their studies, college president Dr Patrick McDevitt said.
“Obviously, as a linked college of DCU, we have worked closely together since 2004 and we have every confidence that the university has an understanding and respect for our heritage and legacy.”
One of the main appeals for DCU was the student accommodation at All Hallows: 45 beds are available in one accommodation block, with a further 50 B&B or en suite rooms in the campus’s conference centre.
Georgian residence
The site also includes Drumcondra House, a notable early Irish Georgian style residence.
In May 2014 the board of trustees of All Hallows College started a wind-down of the college’s academic operations.
The last group of postgraduate students will graduate in December, while the campus itself will close next summer.
Any remaining students will transfer to DCU, and redundancy payments will be made to staff.
“Whilst it is sad that a Catholic, Vincentian institution with such a rich history must wind down, there is much to be proud of and to celebrate in the many years of service for this beautiful and historical college,” said Dr McDevitt.
DCU president Prof Brian MacCraith said it welcomed “this unique opportunity to preserve the All Hallows campus as an educational facility and to continue its long and distinguished history in education and social justice”.
‘New DCU’
“The DCU All Hallows campus, as it will be known, located only 300 metres from the St Patrick’s Campus in Drumcondra, will form an integral component of the new DCU following the incorporation of St Patrick’s College Drumcondra, Mater Dei Institute of Education and the Church of Ireland College of Education in 2016.
“It will provide the university with additional space and facilities to allow DCU to respond to the growing demand for its programmes.”
All Hallows had put together a rescue plan last year which was dependent on the sale of letters written between 1950 and 1964 by Jackie Kennedy to Fr Joseph Leonard, a priest of the college she had befriended.
Initially it was planned to auction the letters to raise funds but this was stopped following intervention by the Kennedy family and the discovery of Fr Leonard’s will in which he had left the letters to the Vincentian congregation not All Hallows.
The college said selling the letters were "one piece" of the financial jigsaw.
