Construction to start on €50m Wicklow school building projects

By Hugh O'Farrell Walsh, The Wicklow People

The new school building projects for Gael Scoil an Inbhir Mor and Gael Colaiste na Mara have been approved to progress to construction.

The €50 million building project will see diggers on site in the coming weeks on the Kilbride Campus commencing the building of two state of the art new school buildings for Arklow.

Initial discussion between the two schools, the Kildare and Wicklow Education and Training Board (KWETB), Wicklow County Council and the Department of Education began in 2017, with funding secured, a co-sharing campus site earmarked in Kilbride and planning permission granted by August 2022.

The plans for Gaelscoil an Inbhir Mhóir – which was established in 1998 and operates, for the most part, out of a series of prefabs – comprise a two-storey, 16-classroom primary school building, with two special needs rooms and ancillary spaces capable of accommodating more than 480 pupils.

For Gaelcholáiste na Mara, which has been limiting its intake for years and is in dire need of another chemistry lab, cooking room, woodwork room and a school hall, the project will deliver a three-storey school building with two special needs rooms and a PE hall aimed at serving more than 400 students.

To the dismay of the Arklow community, the sorely needed projects were put on hold in 20223 when the Department of Education announced they had hit the “pause” button on 58 school building projects around Ireland due to funding pressures.

Welcoming the news of an imminent start date for works, Wicklow Wexford TD Brian Brennan said the project has been one of my his priorities for the town.

“I have been in constant contact with both schools, and I must pay tribute to principals Cian and Deaglán and their entire school communities for their hard work on getting this over the line.

“These projects have been 26 years in the making – there are teachers working the Gaelscoil who attended the school as pupils operating out of prefabs. This is a brilliant step forward for Arklow.

Deputy Brennan acknowledged the many more primary and post primary schools in the constituency with great need, both in terms of upgrading and repairing of buildings, SNA allocations and school transport.

“I will continue to work to ensure that we continue to see ongoing investment and improvement in our schools.” he added.