National College of Art and Design students are angry about a possible move to Belfield from their inner-city site, writes Gráinne Faller
A different kind of art adorns the walls of the National College of Art and Design (NCAD) these days. Huge cardboard signs bearing slogans such as "Education Before Profits" and "NCAD Not For Sale" dominate noticeboards and spare work spaces. The NCAD isn't for sale but it could well be moving from its inner-city location to suburbia, and the very idea has prompted a bitter row between students, the community and the college authorities.
Hopelessly overstretched in capacity, NCAD is facing a number of challenges - not least of which its director calls the "creeping dilapidation" of its premises. The roof blew off the library earlier this year but the need for improvement had already been acknowledged. When a plan for expanding and refurbishing the existing campus turned out to have a price tag of €76 million, the college board, while not ruling it out, decided to consider another option - a move to the University College Dublin (UCD) campus in Belfield.
While UCD and NCAD have only just agreed to explore the option, the idea has created a considerable stir. "UCD is a concrete jungle. It's a cultural cul de sac," says Ben McDonald, vice president of NCAD Students' Union, "We'd lose this location, the access to galleries and art supply shops . . . The building itself has character." He is also concerned about diluting the community feel of the college which has been in Thomas Street since 1980, when it moved from Kildare Street.
Last Monday the students staged a colourful protest at the NCAD graduation which was held in Belfield. They had already protested outside an information evening for staff about the proposal at the end of October. That gathering became somewhat personal with the students chanting the name of Prof Colm O'Briain, director of NCAD.
O'Briain is taken aback by the targeting. "In October the college board decided that we would discuss the issues, implications and costs surrounding such a move," he explains. "We decided from the outset to inform staff and that's why we held the meeting . . . People have jumped to conclusions when no decisions have been made."
"We wanted to make our voice heard early on," says McDonald. "I can see the advantages of a new campus in UCD in terms of accommodation and facilities but the vast majority of students don't want to leave."
That sentiment is echoed in the community. Local Labour councillor John Gallagher is "dismayed" at the thought of the college moving. "We were being told about the college's application for development at the end of October and yet at the same time a move was being discussed," he says. Among Gallagher's concerns are the loss of the community work that the students do, the effect on the social balance of the area and the use of the buildings if the college were to leave.
THE CHAIRMAN OF the Thomas and Meath Street Business Association, John Joseph O'Brien, says the business 'community would be "lost" without the students and that several local businesses would be under threat, while Sinn Féin TD for the area Aengus O'Snodaigh expresses concern for the regeneration of the Liberties as a whole if the college goes.
Although O'Briain appreciates the community's concerns, he emphasises the need for the college to think of itself as a national institution and to maintain its international reputation. "It is incredible and nothing short of a disgrace that NCAD doesn't have a gallery, for example," he says. "We have to act in the best interests of our own students but also with an eye on the future of art and design in this country."
But what constitutes the best interest of art, design and the students is what lies at the heart of the quarrel. "While it would probably be more expensive to refurbish the existing building," says O'Snodaigh, "I think that the location is suitable and worth that extra investment."
McDonald believes the current set-up is ideal for like-minded people to come together and form a creative community. "UCD is just the antithesis of what we are. I think that eventually a college of that size would absorb us whether we realise it or not." Not so, says O'Briain: "Our autonomy is not up for grabs."
At the moment, both refurbishment and a move are being considered, but even when the research has been done, the final decision will rest with the Department of Education. The next step is for the parties to meet the Higher Education Authority to discuss how to explore the possibility of a move.
"Only the people on top want this to happen," says McDonald. "We have to look at more than money. If we move, are we going to lose what makes the college special in the first place?"
"The posters say 'Education Before Profit'. Profit doesn't come into it," says O'Briain. "My concern is education . . . People are presuming this is end game. That simply isn't the case."