Latest news with #Maynooth
Irish Times
5 days ago
- Business
- Irish Times
Student accommodation: Just 116 of 1,000 ‘emergency response' beds will be delivered this year
Just over 100 student beds out of more than 1,000 identified under an 'emergency response' to student accommodation shortages are to be delivered for the coming academic year, an Oireachtas committee has heard. The short-term activation programme was one of several initiatives approved in 2022 to stimulate the development of new student accommodation. Described as an 'emergency response' at the time, it aimed to build student accommodation that already had planning permission but it couldn't proceed due to the high cost of construction. Some €100 million was allocated from 2024 to 2026 to fund the 1,016 beds at Maynooth University, Dublin City University (DCU) and University College Dublin (UCD). READ MORE However, a committee meeting on Tuesday evening heard that just 116 are on track to be delivered for Maynooth this year. A 2015 Higher Education Authority report estimated there was an unmet demand of about 25,000 beds Sinn Féin TD Donna McGettigan, who said students are under 'severe stress' due to accommodation challenges, described the 116 beds as 'just not good enough.' 'How long is it going to take to put in the 1,000 beds if you're only at 116 in one year?' she said. Paul Lemass, assistant secretary at the Department of Higher Education said: 'It has been a challenging process in a very high inflationary context to get the kind of movement that we would have hoped on the short-term programme but we have 116 beds that will be ready for September.' Construction is yet to begin on the beds for DCU and UCD, the committee heard. A 2015 Higher Education Authority report estimated there was an unmet demand of about 25,000 beds, with key drivers being rising student numbers and a large demand for international student places. While output was tracking 'quite well' until the pandemic, with almost 10,000 beds provided until the end of 2020, 'completions dropped significantly in the post-Covid period,' Mr Lemass said. 'Clearly developers looking at Covid got a shock and then no sooner was Covid over, they got a second shock through Ukraine and the cost of living and inflation. So we have undoubtedly been set back,' he said. 'Frankly, we have struggled to recover,' he said. Asked what the unmet student bed need was now, Mr Lemass said the department is in the process of modelling the figure out to 2035. The committee heard there is currently about 49,000 purpose-built student accommodation beds across the country, 16,000 of which are publicly owned. 'We absolutely recognise that there's a shortfall in accommodation,' Mr Lemass said. Separately, Mr Lemass told committee members the department expects approximately 1,800 beds to return to the student accommodation sector this year. The beds were previously used to accommodate international protection applicants and Ukrainian refugees and are expected to return to the sector following a recent review of accommodation contracts by the Department of Children. While there was a need for flexibility, 'given pressures in other sectors', Mr Lemass acknowledged it was 'very disappointing' when properties are taken out of the student accommodation sector for other purposes.
Yahoo
06-07-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
English amateur Lottie Woad wins Women's Irish Open by 6 shots
MAYNOOTH, Ireland (AP) — English golfer Lottie Woad became the first amateur in three years to win a Ladies European Tour title after a six-shot victory at the Women's Irish Open on Sunday. Woad, the world No. 1 amateur, had entered the final round with a seven-stroke lead and shot a 4-under 69. Advertisement The 21-year-old Woad ended at 21-under par for the tournament, six strokes ahead of second-placed Madelene Sagstrom of Sweden. New Zealander Amelia Garvey was third. The previous time an amateur won a Ladies European Tour event was in 2022, when Jana Melichova secured victory at the Czech Ladies Open. ___ AP golf:
Associated Press
06-07-2025
- Sport
- Associated Press
English amateur Lottie Woad wins Women's Irish Open by 6 shots
MAYNOOTH, Ireland (AP) — English golfer Lottie Woad became the first amateur in three years to win a Ladies European Tour title after a six-shot victory at the Women's Irish Open on Sunday. Woad, the world No. 1 amateur, had entered the final round with a seven-stroke lead and shot a 4-under 69. The 21-year-old Woad ended at 21-under par for the tournament, six strokes ahead of second-placed Madelene Sagstrom of Sweden. New Zealander Amelia Garvey was third. The previous time an amateur won a Ladies European Tour event was in 2022, when Jana Melichova secured victory at the Czech Ladies Open. ___ AP golf:
Irish Times
06-07-2025
- Sport
- Irish Times
English amateur Lottie Woad a class apart as she wins Women's Irish Open by six shots
The coronation went without any blips. In Lottie Woad's world of finding fairways, hitting greens-in-regulation and sinking putts, the final round of the KPMG Women's Irish Open saw the ultra-talented 21-year-old English amateur stride to an impressive win at the O'Meara Course on the outskirts of Maynooth over a field sprinkled with stardust, consisting of Solheim Cup players and LPGA Tour and LET winners. Woad's time in the amateur ranks – even with a year yet to go of college at Florida State – would seem numbered, with that pathway to the LPGA Tour opened for her. The win also offers up the prospect of LET membership, if and when she wants it, so that her addition to next year's European Solheim Cup team in the Netherlands would be probable. For now, Woad's brilliance was evident in winning a professional tournament as an amateur. Lydia Ko did it on the LPGA Tour when winning the Canadian Open. Most recently, Czech player Jana Melichová did so on the LET when winning the Czech Open in 2022. Woad's final-round 69 for a total of 21-under-par 271 gave her a six strokes winning margin over Sweden's Madelene Sagstrom. As an amateur, Woad couldn't take home the winner's cheque for €67,500, which instead went to Sagstrom. READ MORE On a day in which intermittent bursts of heavy rain mixed with outbreaks of sunshine caused players to put on and take off weatherproofs at regular intervals, Woad was consistency personified with a round of six birdies and two bogeys ensuring those in pursuit were kept at arm's length. Woad has upcoming Major assignments in the Evian and the AIG Women's Open in her position as world amateur number one. Her 'Hello World' moment on turning professional surely awaits sooner rather than later. Lottie Woad drives during the final round of the KPMG Women's Irish Open at Carton House. Photograph: Laszlo Geczo/Inpho 'I'm still trying to get my final two points for the LPGA, so just trying to get those. And then we'll, we'll see what happens after that,' said a non-committal Woad. For LET rookie Anna Foster, it proved to be another fruitful week on tour as the 23-year-old Dubliner backed up a top-five in the German Masters with a top-15 here as a final round 72 for a total of eight-under-par 284 in tied-12th gave her the distinction of being the leading home player. Even at this stage of the season, it enabled her to wrap up her card again for next season, the result moving her up to 28th on the season's order of merit. Foster, less than a year since turning professional following a fine collegiate career with Auburn, has found her feet quickly and smoothly since earning her LET card at Q-school. 'I'm really happy with the week, really proud of myself. I'm happy with the week in general, with how I dealt with the pressure at the beginning of the week and managed to kind of just keep in the present and focus on what I needed to,' said Foster, who is not in the field for next week's Evian Championship so can recharge the batteries and reset her targets before heading to final qualifying for next month's AIG Women's Open at Royal Porthcawl. And the intention is to stay focused on the LET rather than be tempted – not yet at any rate – to try for an LPGA Tour card. 'I'm really happy with where I am on the LET. I recall a nugget from Pádraig Harrington, where he said 'it's great to be a big fish in a little pond first' before you decide to kind of jump to the LPGA. Where I am now, I'm really happy, and I want to be up near the top of the leaderboard [in tournaments]. The LET is really strong, and it's a great place to play. So I'm not currently going to go [for LPGA Tour status] this year, like maybe next year, depending how I feel. Enjoyment is the main thing for me.' Anna Foster acknowledges the applause from the crowd during the final round of the KPMG Women's Irish Open at Carton House. Photograph: Laszlo Geczo/Inpho Foster was the leading home player in tied-12th with Canice Screene shooting a superb final round 66 for 290 in tied-37th and Leona Maguire in tied-48th. Elm Park amateur Emma Fleming shot a final round 76 for 295 in tied-54th. Maguire's exhausting schedule appeared to catch up with her, after a three-week stint on the LPGA Tour – which took in the Meijer Classic, KPMG Women's PGA and the Dow Championship – before the transatlantic flight back home where she also had corporate commitments outside of the ropes. 'It's demanding. If this wasn't the Irish Open, I wouldn't have played this week, it would have been nice to have a week off before for Evian. But, I mean, we're lucky to do what we do and get to travel the world and everything that comes with it. I tried my best this week, it wasn't good enough,' said Maguire. A final round 75 for 292 in tied-48th had Maguire further off the pace than she'd had wished for, although she sought to take positives away ahead of moving on to the Evian Championship in France, the fourth women's Major of the year, for what will be her fifth event in a row and seventh in eight weeks. 'There were sparks of it this week, some patches of really nice golf, and then there was a lot of tired golf in there. We'll take the positives from this week and try and bring as much of that into next week as best we can,' added Maguire.
Irish Times
04-07-2025
- Sport
- Irish Times
Women's Irish Open: Young English star Lottie Woad leads as Irish challenge falters
Lottie Woad provided a glimpse into the future. As the darkened grey clouds leaked rain, and the consistently strong wind buffeted players and caused balls to oscillate on the more exposed greens, the Englishwoman – the world's number one ranked amateur for just more than a year – seemed immune to the elements to claim a three strokes lead at the midway stage of the KPMG Women's Irish Open over the O'Meara Course at the sprawling estate in Maynooth, Co Kildare. A second round 67 to add to her opening 68 gave Woad the outright lead on 11-under-par 155, three clear of Switzerland's Chiara Tamburlini – last year's winner of the LET order of merit – with Solheim Cup players Charley Hull and Madelene Sagstrom among a quartet four shots adrift of the leader. Woad's golf was exceptional in many ways, with others cast in a fight for survival – among them Leona Maguire – as the dervish of a wind swirled and gusted, so that the pink flagsticks strained to their limits. To Maguire's credit, she battled to ensure survival. Her second round 75 for 147, one-over, was achieved with fight typical of her DNA, all the more so for the fact her finish came after a double-bogey six from nowhere on the par 4 11th which had her in danger of missing the weekend. Birdies on the par 3 14th and 16th and stubbornly executed par saves on the two finishing holes, however, ensured safety if not quite at the business part of things. READ MORE 'It was more of a grind today,' admitted Maguire of a round where the strong winds seemed to switch direction at a whim, adding: 'Definitely those gusts were very tricky to say the least. I'm proud of how I hung in and, yeah, two more days.' That double bogey on the 11th came with a 5-wood in hand from the fairway which was pushed right of the green into thick rough. 'I don't really know what happened that shot, really. I was hitting a five wood in, and I think it caught a gust and spun off,' she recalled. Her recovery from the rough flew across the green into a bunker and before she knew it Maguire was walking off the green with a six on her scorecard. Her response was good and brave. The birdies on the two par 3s left: a 6-hybrid to 12 feet on the 14th and then a 9-iron to 12 feet on the 16th. Vitally, she also managed par saves – pitching dead on the 17th and 18th – to keep the run home clean. 'The forecast this morning said 60 kilometre an hour gusts. It's windy, and we had that in Dallas [for the Women's PGA] a few weeks ago. But when it's warm there, it's a little different [here]. When it's like this, and the ball's going nowhere, you really have to do a lot of calculations, a lot of extra thinking. You have to make the best of what you have on any given day and I felt like it would have been very easy to give up today, and I didn't do that. And I know there's a lot of people wanting to come watch me over the weekend, and yeah, hopefully the draw is a little bit kinder to us tomorrow. We'll see if we can post number,' said Maguire. Leona Maguire. Photograph: Laszlo Geczo/Inpho Out of the 16 Irish players who started, just four – Anna Foster, Emma Fleming, Maguire, and Canice Screen – survived into the weekend. Foster, a 23-year-old rookie on the LET, shot a 74 for one-under 145 in tied-25th to lead the home challenge with Fleming (77 for 146 in tied-40th), Maguire (75 for 147 in tied-49th) and Screen (75 for 148 in tied-56th) all progressing to the final two rounds. Others agonisingly missed out: Sara Byrne, again, was a shot too many (74 par 149); Áine Donegan unfortunately triple-bogeyed the par 5 17th which proved costly (76 for 150); amateur Anna Abom double-bogeyed the last (76 for 150), while Lauren Walsh birdied the 15th and 16th in her bid to make the cut but ultimately fell short in closing with two pars (75 for 150). Woad – playing in the tournament on an invite, as one of her sponsors Novellus, the Dublin-based finance company, is also a co-sponsor of the Irish Open – played golf that made the difficult conditions almost irrelevant. Through 36 holes, she has managed 12 birdies and suffered just one bogey. A proven winner in her amateur career, which included last year's Augusta National Women's Championship along with Curtis Cup and Vagliano Trophy wins with GB&I, Woad has proven herself comfortable playing against the professionals (including a top-10 in last year's AIG Open) even if that expected move to the LPGA Tour is a little time away. 'Everyone's obviously great players, whether that be in this or even the amateur events we play. I'm just trying to stick to my own game,' said Woad, who has executed that gameplan to perfection so far.
