UCD students go to the polls on Thursday to decide whether they will contribute up to £50 a year to the development of Ireland's largest student centre. At present, students in Belfield pay a student-centre levy of £30 at the start of every academic year. The referendum will ask whether students are willing to see that go up to £40 in 1999 and £50 in September 2000, when the centre should be completed.

Construction work has already begun on the site and it is estimated the centre will cost £10.7 million to complete. College authorities are contributing £2 million of the money and taking out a loan to pay for its construction. The students will pay off the loan over the next 17 years.

The centre will feature a 600-seat event hall, a two-floor bar, shops, a travel agency and a fastfood outlet. The offices of the students' union and of UCD's student clubs and societies will also move from their present home in the arts block to the centre.

The building will also host an expanded student health service, games facilities and meeting rooms. On big occasions, the bar and the event hall in the centre will be combined with marquees in the adjacent car park to create a venue with a capacity of up to 5,000 people.

The student-centre project has been in gestation in UCD for the best part of a decade and has had a number of false starts. However, students' union president John Nisbet is confident that if the students vote in favour of increasing the levy on Thursday, the student centre will be in operation at the start of the 200001 academic year.

"At the moment investors want to see the centre up and running before they commit. We will continue to seek funding and sponsorship from both commercial and government sources throughout the building work - so that hopefully we can reduce the levy in time."