Clarion Road safety concerns

IT Sligo is to be allocated €543,000 in funding under the new Innovation and Transformation Fund.

The Minister for Education and Skills Joe McHugh TD and Minister for Higher Education Mary Mitchell O’Connor TD revealed that 22 projects across 23 educational institutions have been awarded a total of €23 million under the scheme in 2019.

The fund was launched in 2018 as part of the modernisa-

THE safety of crossing the Clarion Road near IT Sligo (inset) will soon be assessed by the Council to see if a pedestrian crossing is needed.

It’s on foot of a motion by Fine Gael Cllr Sinead Maguire who asked for the feasibility study to be carried out at the junction of the Engineering Department of the IT. The Council will also review the public lighting at the entrance to the Clarion Village Gateway apartments and to- wards St Edward’s National School.

“It’s a very busy road and cars travel quite quick- ly. “The road narrows at a certain point. I spent an hour there and met 150 students who were all very enthusiastic and said a pedestrian crossing was needed,” said Cllr Maguire. “The lighting is not strong either. I would ask in the interests of safety to have it done,’ she said. She was supported by Fianna Fáil Cllr Seamus Kilgannon who said with the amount of benefits brought to the area by the IT, the Clarion Road warranted a special fund to widen the road. “It does need footpaths on both sides. By the time funding is found for it the IT will have been upgraded to technological university status,” he said.

IT Sligo gets €543k funding for disability online learning enhancements

tion and reform of the funding model for Higher Education.

It is also part of the €250million additional investment by the Government in Higher Education since 2016, bringing total funding to more than €1.7 billion.

This funding which is supported by IT Sligo, SLETB, Family Carers and the Disability Federation of Ireland will be used to provide online/ blended degree programmes for students who are unable to be on-campus due to location and disability.

The news was welcomed by Fine Gael TD for Sligo/Leitrim, Deputy Tony McLoughlin.

“This funding announcement is great news for IT Sligo as it continues to power ahead as a leading Irish educational institution in the online education sector,” added Deputy McLoughlin.