Our graduation ceremony is a day to celebrate, a highlight of our academic calendar and a day to recognise your academic achievements. Your graduation marks the end of your educational journey with us and after all the hard work and commitment, it’s time to celebrate your achievement.

Graduation Day for the Class of 2023 will take place on Friday, 17th November ’23 at Croke Park, Dublin.

The Date and Venue

This year’s graduation ceremony will be held in Croke Park on Friday, 17th November 2023, time TBC. 

Booking Your Ticket

Bookings will open on 2nd October ’23.

Booking Your Guests

We want to facilitate as many graduates who wish to attend as possible therefore, we must limit the number of guest tickets available initially. There is an allocation of two guests per student with a fee of €25 payable per guest ticket. We usually have additional seating available to allocate to guests once the booking for graduates is closed. On the booking form you will be able to select how many other additional guest tickets you would ideally like. A wait list is operated for requests for additional guests with these allocated after the online booking is closed on a first come first served basis. Requests will only be recorded after the booking form opens on the 2nd of October at 9am.

Children Attending the Ceremony

Regrettably, there is limited capacity in Croke Park. To avoid having to refuse graduates seeking to attend, we must limit bookings for child tickets to 50. These are allocated on a first come first served basis and are free of charge.

Time of Arrival & Length of Ceremony

Croke Park will be open to you at 10:45am on the day. You can collect your gown between 11am to 1pm. A professional photographer on site will also be available from 11am to take photographs.

The conferring and awards ceremony takes 45 minutes to one hour depending on the number of graduates in attendance.

Seating at the Ceremony

As a graduate, you will be allocated a seat with your fellow graduates from your programme. Please ensure you sit in the seat allocated to you as this is the order by which graduates are conferred. You will be required to be in your seat 15 minutes before the ceremony starts. Guest seating is unallocated and available behind the graduate seating. Children sit in the guest seating area.

Cap & Gown

All graduates must pre-book robes with the official robe-makers, Phelan Conan Limited before Midnight Thursday 16th November 2023. Robes may be pre-booked online at https://www.phelanconan.com/home The pre-paid hire fee is €35 or Pay on the day hire fee is €40.

Due to the implementation of a personal 3D secure password during the credit card payment process on https://www.phelanconan.com Phelan Conan Ltd staff are no longer able to take bookings over the phone. This has been created to protect your online payments and if you don’t already have a 3D secure password you can activate it by following the simple instructions during the booking process. If you experience any further problems with 3D secure process, please contact your bank.
Robes can be collected from 11am to 1pm on the day of your graduation in Croke Park. There will be a team to issue robes, assist with dressing of same and return of same.

Cash will not be accepted. All gowns must be returned to Phelan Conan staff in the same area as collected from by 6pm on the day of your graduation.

Please note, you must wear a gown to be conferred at the graduation ceremony. Gowns will only be available for collection on the day between 11am and 1pm.

Photography

There will be a professional photographer on site available to take photographs of you and your family. Prices start from €25 with a variety of packages available to include several photographs, frames etc. This is payable directly to the photographer on the day. The photographer is available after the ceremony should you be unable to get your photograph taken beforehand. Photography will close 30 minutes before the ceremony to ensure graduates are seated in time – please take this into consideration when joining the queue on the day.

Entering Croke Park & Car Parking on the Day

Enter Croke Park via the Hogan Stand, the conferring room is at level 5 and you can take the lift or escalator to this level. Car Parking is available within the environs of Croke Park by entering via the Daven Car Park

Dates to Remember

Please help us to make your graduation from Portobello Institute a memorable day by remembering the dates below;

  • Friday, 17th November 2022 – Graduation Day
  • Monday, 2nd October – Bookings Open
  • Friday 27th October – Bookings Close
  • Friday 3rd November – Additional seats allocated
  • Friday 10th November – Further information emailed about the order of ceremony to those booked to attend

Queries

We are delighted to support you with any queries you might have – email us at [email protected] with all your graduation queries. As the date gets closer, we receive a large volume of email queries, please be patient – we will respond to your query within 24 hours.

And finally…..

Graduation day is a day to celebrate and everyone in Portobello really looks forward to welcoming you and your guests to the annual Graduation Ceremony on Friday, November 17th 2023!

The Graduation Team