Building contract signed as work starts on the new Sutherland School of Law
The contract for the new UCD Sutherland School of Law Building was recently signed by the President of UCD, Dr Hugh Brady, and Mr. Theo Cullinane, CEO BAM Contractors, at a ceremony at Belfield. Present were the Honourable Peter Sutherland KCMG, SC, the principal donor for the project, and Mr Ruairi Quinn, TD, Minister for Education and Skills, as well as Professor Colin Scott, Dean UCD School of Law, Mr Declan McCourt, Chairman of the UCD School of Law Development Council, and Professor Imelda Maher, Academic Director of the law school building project. Also present were representatives of the major law firms contributing to the project and other invited guests from the legal profession and the wider community.
In introductory remarks, the Dean, Professor Scott noted that, within the broader framework of law as a transformational subject, the new building would enable the School to transform its teaching, learning and research and, in particular, to offer students and scholars new opportunities for bringing theory and practice together. He thanked Peter Sutherland for his foresight in making the lead gift for the law school building project and in agreeing to allow it be named after him. Professor Scott also thanked the law firms who had financially supported the project, Mr Declan McCourt and the other members of the Development Council for their constant advice and assistance and the former Dean, Professor Paul O'Connor, whose vision and commitment had been vital in laying the ground-work for the project and seeing it through its initial stages. He also thanked Professor Maher for the crucial work she had done in ensuring academic input into the design and delivery of the building.
Inspecting the plans for the new building at the site, (l-r) Dr Hugh Brady, Minister Ruairi Quinn, Peter Sutherland, Theo Cullinane and Professor Colin Scott
UCD President, Dr Brady, hailed the new building, located in the heart of the campus, as symbolic of the central role of the law school in the university. He paid tribute to Peter Sutherland and all those others who played critical roles in bringing the project this far, including the Director of Capital Development, Eamonn Ceannt, who was unable to be present. The outstanding contribution which private donors had made, with Peter Sutherland in the lead, was a salutary example for other higher education projects to follow. He also thanked the Minister for the Government's support for this project and for others currently under way across the campus, which had a total value in the region of €200 million.
The Minister for Education and Skills, Mr Ruairi Quinn TD, congratulated all those involved in the project on the progress which had already been made. He particularly thanked Peter Sutherland for offering such a striking example of personal philanthropy, which it was to be hoped that others with the means to do so would emulate. He stressed the importance of having world class higher education facilities in Ireland, to which the Sutherland Law School Building would be an outstanding addition; this was particularly important given the great benefits which an increasingly multi-cultural Ireland stood to gain from welcoming overseas students and immigrants in general. He paid tribute to Peter Sutherland's commitment to education and to public discussion of the migration issues.
Dr Hugh Brady and Peter Sutherland look out over the site of the new building where work has commenced.
Responding, Peter Sutherland gave a wide-ranging address in which he recalled the influence which his time as a student in UCD, when it was in Earlsfort Terrace, had on his career and the rest of his life. He expressed his passionate commitment to education and stressed the importance which government policy ought to give to it, even at the expense of other social policies. He heartily agreed with the Minister's comments about the importance of Ireland being open to ideas and people from all across the rest of the world, which could greatly enrich the country's economic, political, social and cultural life. He looked forward to the Sutherland School of Law Building playing its own specific role in this process.
Dr Brady and Mr Cullinane then signed the contract for the building, in the presence of Professor Scott, the Minister, Peter Sutherland, Declan McCourt and Professor Maher.
Dr Hugh Brady signs the contract with Theo Cullinane (r) and Professor Imelda Maher with, in the back row (l-r) Professor Colin Scott, Minister Quinn, Peter Sutherland and Declan McCourt.
