President and Sabina visit GMIT Letterfrack to mark their 30th anniversary

Speech to mark the 30th Anniversary of the Partnership Between Connemara West and GMIT

The President and Sabina visited GMIT Letterfrack, a national centre of excellence for furniture design and wood technology, for the campus' 30th anniversary.

The GMIT Letterfrack campus came about in partnership with the Connemara West community development group, which bought the buildings of the Letterfrack Industrial School in 1978, and the Galway Mayo Institute of Technology, which established a woodskills programme, sponsored by the then Youth Employment Agency.

Some of the timber used by the college was crafted from storm-felled trees in the Áras and from the Phoenix Park. The Presidential Inauguration Chair was designed by Letterfrack graduate John Lee, and lecterns in Áras an Uachtaráin were designed and made by students and staff at the college.