Ringsend College 1983 - RTE Archive

Ringsend College from the RTE Archives

An RTÉ News report broadcast on 15 April 1983. The reporter is Charlie Bird.

Source: RTE Archives. 

The Taoiseach opens a new building at the Ringsend Technical Institute.

Originally founded by the Earl of Pembroke in the 1890s as a technical and fishery school for the fishing community of Ringsend, the new school has 35 full time teaching staff and caters for over 600 students engaged in the full range of vocational subjects.

A feature of the school is the number of overseas students it attracts, especially like countries Nigeria, Malaysia and Kenya.

Approximately half the students are involved in a special one year course which prepares them for third level education. The Ringsend Institute was one of the first vocational schools in the country to offer this course, which is very much in demand. Thomas Carney, who was the school’s principal for just over 26 years, explains,

It caught on in a big way ever since that there has been a great demand for it. We started with something like 25 students, and last year before I retired, we had to refuse admission to something like 800-900.