Dundalk IT students demand €125 refund as JJB facility fails to open

What the new facility is supposed to look like but progress on converting it has been slow

Dundalk IT Students’ Union have demanded a full refund of the €125 each student paid towards the new DkITSport facility, which was to open last year at the former JJB premises at Dundalk Retail Park.

An emergency class rep meeting was called by the Students’ Union yesterday, with 87 class reps in attendance being told that the latest information from the college was that the facility will not be open until this summer.

At the start of the 2014/2015 academic year in September, each student paid an additional €125 on their college fees towards the former JJB facility, which DkIT were set to convert into a major sports centre.

In exchange for the €125 they would receive full membership to the gym facility.

This was to open in September or October but when it failed to do so DkIT Students’ Union renegotiated that students would receive a refund on a pro-rata basis.

This would mean that if the facility opened in February they would receive €62.50 back. However, after hearing that the facility will now not be open until June, students have demanded that their money be refunded in full, with the levy not coming into place until the facility is fully operational in September.

Students’ Union President Brian Fitzpatrick said: “This year in DkIT the students have grown very frustrated due to many cuts and changes to our vital services.

“We promised the students that we would stick by them throughout this process and ensure that they will be treated fairly. The only fair option now is for a full refund as otherwise there would be a blatant breach of the original plebiscite voted on by the students in 2012.”

The Students’ Union previously blocked plans to build a velodrome in the facility, a venture that was put forward by college representatives in conjunction with Cuchulainn Cycling Club.

Plans for Dundalk velodrome up in the air after students vote against the proposal

What the velodrome building would look like if given the go ahead

Plans for a velodrome at the JJB facility at Dundalk Retail Park have suffered a massive setback after students at Dundalk IT voted almost unanimously against the proposals yesterday.

The ambitious plans for the velodrome in conjunction with the college were announced last Wednesday by Cuchulainn Cycling Club, with DkIT president Denis Cummins saying he was determined to work with the them and Cycling Ireland to bring the first velodrome in Ireland to the town.

However, the move angered students at the college who claimed they were not consulted on the plans despite the fact that they voted last year to support the college’s takeover of JJB – a decision which will add an additional €125 per year to their fees to help subsidise its purchase.

Class reps met on Monday afternoon to discuss the matter and of the 40 reps present, 39 voted to oppose the proposal, with one abstaining.

That leaves the plans very much up in the air with president Cummins giving a commitment that the velodrome “would not go ahead without student support,” according to DkIT Students’ Union president Brian Fitzpatrick.

In a statement on the Students’ Union website this morning, Mr Fitzpatrick said: “We invited DkIT president Denis Cummins in to talk about the background of the proposal and what it would mean to the college if it was passed. Denis insisted that this was still only a proposal and would not go ahead without the student support. After taking some difficult questions on the matter from some of the reps in attendance, Denis asked us to hold back on taking a vote and to wait until we could make a more informed decision in the near future. He then left us to discuss the matter further before taking our vote. 

“We decided that we would take the vote there and then as we seen no point in delaying since we had gathered sufficient feedback from all students over the past week. Of the 40 class reps present, 39 voted to oppose the proposal, 1 abstained and 0 voted in favour of the proposal.

“The general feeling was that this is our facility, and rather than just jumping at the first funding opportunity that comes available, we should be patient and wait for something that will actually be an addition for us students in DkIT.

I would like to thank all of the DkIT students for their feedback on the issue and all of the class reps for helping us gather it.”

A poll was launched last week within the college by the DkIT Students’ Union to gauge opinion on the velodrome proposals but most felt it was not in the best interests of students. While there are a wide range of clubs and societies on campus, cycling is not one of them.

According to one student, posting on the Dundalk IT Students’ Union Facebook page: “A lot of students are against this. This is not what was agreed.”

One commentator to Talk of the Town, Vikki Conroy said: “It doesn’t really make sense to build a facility purely for use by a cycling club. Why pull out the major facilities that’s already in place and students were promised use of?”

Should the ambitious plans fail then, Cuchulainn Cycling Club could revert to their initial idea of building a cycling park in Muirhevnamor – a project they had already secured land and planning permission for.