A site in Knocknacarra is being sought for a new 16-classroom primary school with construction planned for early next year.
The Department of Education is currently seeking a greenfield site in the area with the aim of completing the planning and construction of the project by September 2013. The patronage of the new school has yet to be determined.
The news has been welcomed by Fine Gael Galway West TD Brian Walsh who said Knocknacarra had been identified as a “priority area of demographic growth” that will need a new primary school within the next year.
“It is encouraging that the needs of the vibrant, young, population in Knocknacarra are being recognised by the Department and will be adequately catered for in the years to come,” he said.
However Dep Walsh said the plans for the proposed new school “in no way supersedes long-standing plans for the extension of Gaelscoil Mhic Amhlaigh” where half of the classrooms at present are based in prefab accommodation.
Plans for the extension of Gaelscoil Mhic Amhlaigh are currently being considered in the context of the five-year school building programme due to be announced shortly.
“It is over six years since the Department of Education progressed the project to the architectural planning stage, and tangible progress in this regard is long overdue,” said Dep Walsh. “The demographic and educational needs of the area warrant both the construction of a new school and the extension of Gaelscoil Mhic Amhlaigh.”
The Minister for Education Ruairi Quinn is expected to publish details of a €2 billion five-year building plan for primary and post-primary schools in coming weeks. More than 23,000 school places will be provided under the plan
