Almost nine acres of prime development land has been bought by Galway Regional Technical College which intends to retain it as open space for sporting activities, at a cost of £2.8 million.
The land on the old Dublin Road, currently used by local sporting organisations, was bought from the Sisters of Mercy with funding assistance from the Department of Education.
The land had been looked at by property developers as being ideally suited for housing, but the purchase by the Galway RTC allows the college authority to extend sporting facilities.