LAST MONTH, the Minister for Education, Niamh Bhreathnach, told the Dail that "significant progress" had been made in the sector, but the extent of the work currently being undertaken is itself an admission of the poor status accorded to the art and design sector for so long.

The NCAD is in the process of constructing a new £6 million facility to replace its Leinster Lane accommodation, which is apparently to be refurbished as a Dail creche. The first two phases of upgrading work on Limerick RTC have now been completed and a £3.5 million plan to convert a refurbished convent into the RTC's art school is currently being considered by the Department of Education.

Upgrading work has commenced at Waterford Institute of Technology, and £500,000 is to be invested in Crawford, in Cork, in addition to upgrading work already carried out.

Meanwhile, the College of Marketing and Design in Dublin is in a limbo situation at present since the DIT and the Department of Education are engaged in what the Department terms "an overall campus development plan", to include replacement facilities for the DIT's rented accommodation at Mountjoy Square and Portland Row. Some £6 million in European Regional Development Fund cash will be used for the replacement of Portland Row and the further development of DIT Aungier Street.

Even these efforts are probably insufficient to address the problems facing the sector, according to USI. "I think colleges bear a certain amount of responsibility but there is obviously the question of Government funding," says education officer Malcolm Byrne. "This society is supposed to be committed to art and design, yet art education is left very much on the back burner."