St Patrick’s College Drumcondra (DCU Drumcondra)

Coláiste Phádraig
St Pats College, Drumcondra
Latin: Collegii Sancti Patricii
Motto	Intellectum da mihi, Domine
Motto in English	Give me understanding, Lord
Type	Roman Catholic
Established	1875
Affiliation	Congregation of the Mission (1883–1999)
President	Dr Daire Keogh
Students	2,400 (2016)
Location	Drumcondra, Dublin, Ireland 53°22′14″N 6°15′16″W / 53.370425°N 6.254396°W / 53.370425; -6.254396Coordinates: 53°22′14″N 6°15′16″W / 53.370425°N 6.254396°W / 53.370425; -6.254396
Campus	Urban
Colours	Blue, white and yellow
Nickname	St Pat's
Affiliations	National University of Ireland (1975–95) Dublin City University (1995–2016)
Sports	Hurling, Gaelic football, camogie
Website	spd.dcu.ie

St Patrick's College (Irish: Coláiste Phádraig) was founded in Drumcondra, in north Dublin, Ireland, in 1875, with a Roman Catholic ethos. It was the largest primary teacher training college in Ireland, with up to 2,000 students at one stage. It offered a number of undergraduate courses, primarily in primary education and arts, and in time postgraduate courses too, mostly in education and languages.

As of 30 September 2016, the college is known as DCU Drumcondra. On that day it was formally incorporated into Dublin City University, along with Mater Dei Institute of Education, All Hallows College, and the Church of Ireland College of Education. Those combined institutions now form DCU's fifth faculty, 'The DCU Institute of Education'. All humanities-based courses at the former St Patrick's were then absorbed by DCU's Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences.

History[edit]

The college was established at 1–2 Drumcondra Road in 1875, moving to the Belvedere House in 1883 following the purchase by the Catholic Archbishop of Dublin, when the Congregation of the Mission (Vincentian) community took over the running of the College. In its first 25 years over 2,000 students graduated from the college. The college trained students to become primary school teachers and was male only until 1971. In 1984, a National School was established on campus and students would practice there. St Patrick's College of Education was a recognised colleges of the National University of Ireland from 1975 to 1995.^[1] In 1993, the college commenced its association with the nearby Dublin City University (DCU) which was newly established. In 1995 the college of education formally ended its connection with the NUI and becoming a college of DCU. The college developed a number of Arts and Humanities undergraduate and postgraduate courses with DCU. The Vincentians administration of the College ended in 1999. In 2008 the college along with the other local college the Mater Dei, and All Hallows, signed a new linkage agreement with Dublin City University.^[2] In May 2012, it was announced that there would be a €40 million investment in facilities at the college to provide for 2,500 students.^[3]

Dr Daire Keogh of the history department was the 14th and last President of the college, taking over from Dr Pauric Travers, in September 2012.^[4] Dr Travers had been the first lay president of the college, appointed in 1999. Previous presidents of the college have included Fr Peter Byrne CM (1883-1919)^[5] when the vincentians came to the college, Fr Jerome Twomey CM (1942-1948), and Dr Donal Cregan CM (1957-1976).

Belvedere House[edit]

Notable buildings on the campus include Belvedere House which was built c.1660 by Sir Robert Booth, Lord Chief Justice of Ireland.

Residents of the house included:

• 
  Marmaduke Coghill, Chancellor of the Exchequer of Ireland
  


• 
  Henry Singleton, MP for Drogheda and later Chief Justice of the Irish Common Pleas
  


• 
  John Bowes, 1st Baron Bowes, Lord Chancellor of Ireland
  


• 
  Lord Lifford, Lord Chancellor of Ireland, and former MP for Coventry
  


• 
  Lord Rokeby, Church of Ireland Archbishop of Armagh. (founder in 1790 of Armagh Observatory)

The Congregation of Christian Brothers established a noviciate in the house prior to transferring to Coláiste Mhuire Marino in 1875, they sold Belvedere House to Cardinal Cullen for £3000 for the establishment of the College..

Faculty and Departments[edit]

The College is divided into two faculties, Education and Humanities. Since the affiliation to DCU in 1995 the College's offerings of Arts programmes in the Humanities has increased.

Faculty of Education[edit]

• Education


• Religious Studies and Education


• Special Education

Faculty of Humanities[edit]

• English


• Irish (Roinn na Gaeilge)


• Mathematics


• French


• History


• Geography


• Music


• Human Development

Student Services and Students' Union[edit]

St Pat's provides a variety of student services such as career advice, access support, mature student support, medical and welfare services and an International Office.

The College also has a Students' Union which oversees clubs such as GAA, rugby, soccer, and other pursuits, and societies for drama, St Vincent De Paul, the Choral Society, and more.

St Pat's Students' Union had two sabbatical positions;'President' and 'Vice President and Welfare' and seven non-sabbatical positions; Clubs & Socs Officer, Education Officer, Ents Officer, Equality Officer, Oifigeach na Gaeilge, International Officer and Women's Officer. In 2015, students voted to change the structure of the SU. The new SU for the academic year 2015/16 was to be led by two sabbatical positions; 'President' and 'Vice President Welfare and Ents' as well as seven non-sabbatical positions; Clubs Officer, Day Time Activities Officer, Education Officer, International Officer, Oifigeach na Gaeilge, Mature's Officer, and Societies Officer.^[6]

Erins Hope[edit]

St Pat's are invited to enter the Dublin Senior Football Championship under the name Erins Hope. Erins Hope have been Dublin football champions on four occasions in 1887, 1932, 1956 and 1978. In 2007 Erins Hope failed to field a team for the Dublin championship and had to withdraw from the tournament.

Alumni[edit]

Famous alumni from the college include;

• 
  Patrick Breen Teacher, President of the GAA 1924-1926


• 
  John McGahern Writer (1934–2006)


• 
  Máirtín Ó Cadhain Writer, Republican (1906–1970)


• 
  Peadar O'Donnell Writer, Republican (1893–1986)


• 
  Mattie McDonagh Galway footballer (1936–2005)


• 
  Patrick McCabe Writer 1955-


• 
  Enda Kenny, former Taoiseach (Irish prime minister)


• 
  Mícheál Ó Muircheartaigh, broadcaster


• 
  Michael Noonan, Minister for Finance


• 
  Brendan Howlin, TD 1987-, Minister for Health, Environment and Public Expenditure & Reform. Leader of the Irish Labour Party.


• 
  Bryan MacMahon Writer (1909-1998)

External links[edit]

• Official site

References[edit]