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image captionEric Kinsella and his wife Barbara made the €30m donation
Trinity College Dublin (TCD) has received a €30m (£26m) donation from a former graduate and his wife.
Eric Kinsella, executive chairman of Jones Engineering group, and his wife Barbara made the donation, believed to be the largest philanthropic gift from individuals to any Irish university.
The money will go towards the first building on the new Trinity East campus at the Grand Canal Innovation District.
This will be the first new campus in TCD s 429-year history.
The campus cover 5.5 acres. Such national significance
Mr Kinsella and his wife have previously made significant contributions to TCD, including funding a multi-million euros 24-hour study facility in the university s Ussher Library.
The 76-year-old Switzerland-based businessman is Irelandâs 128th richest person with an estimated fortune of â¬136m.
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Trinity College Dublin has thanked the couple for their gift by saying, Mr. and Mrs. Kinsella are long-term benefactors to Trinity, and have already funded a multi-million euro 24-hour study facility, Kinsella Hall in the Ussher Library as well as a programme of engineering scholarships for talented students.
Trinity East is the first new campus proposed by Trinity College Dublin in its 429-year history and will be modeled on innovation districts such as Cambridge Square in Boston and similar districts in cities such as Toronto, Rotterdam, and Barcelona.
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Trinity College has been handed the largest philanthropic donation an Irish university has received in the history of the State.
The Executive Chairman of Jones Engineering Eric Kinsella and his wife Barbara have donated €30m to the college.
The money will provide seed funding for the development of a new campus in the Dublin Docklands.
Trinity said the Kinsella’s are long-term benefactors to Trinity and have previously funded a multi-million Euro 24-hour study facility as well as a programme of engineering scholarships for talented students. Eric and Barbara Kinsella at the Kinsella Hall in Trinity. Image: Trinity