Cork East Fine Gael TD and Minister of State at the Department of Justice, David Stanton, has welcomed progress with the development of three new school facilities at a greenfield site in Carrigtwohill. Minister Stanton has said he is very pleased that the long-awaited planning permission for the development of new and permanent accommodation for two primary schools, Scoil Mhuire Naofa and Scoil Chliodhna and one post-primary school, Carrigtwohill Community College, has today been advertised and that planning documentation will be lodged with Cork County Council in the coming days.
“I am delighted to hear that an advert for planning permission for these three schools has been published. The proposed new accommodation is badly needed. Both Scoil Chliodhna and Carrigtwohill Community College are currently operating from temporary premises since they opened in 2015 and 2016 respectively, whereas Scoil Mhuire Naofa’s permanent accommodation is no longer large enough to meet demand and has been relying on temporary classrooms on site”, said Minister Stanton.
“Teachers, parents, students and the local community have been, understandably, quite concerned as to the ability of the three schools to cater for demand. This development is therefore essential to meet Carrigtwohill’s educational accommodation needs now and into the future. Carrigtwohill is lucky to have two other schools also, St Aloysius College offering second-level education for girls and Scoil Chlochair Mhuire primary school which is also due to develop additional accommodation on its permanent site.”
The new development will consist of three schools with modern state of the art educational facilities. It will include two new 24 classroom primary schools for Scoil Mhuire Naofa and Scoil Chliodhna and one post-primary facility for Carrigtwohill Community College which will allow the school to expand to up to 1000 students. The development also forms part of a larger school building and modernisation programme being carried out by the Government at national level which receives capital funding by the Department of Education and Skills.
“While we are all anxious to see this development progress as quickly as possible, the planning permission process must first be concluded and I would hope that this process will run smoothly. Minister McHugh has assured me that once this process has been completed that the Department will progress the tendering and construction without delay”, concluded Minister Stanton.
