Modular plan fuels push for new Wicklow secondary school despite Department saying there is no need

By Hugh O'Farrell Walsh, The Wicklow People

For more than two decades, a 4.7-hectare plot of land on the edge of Newtownmountkennedy has been empty, a silent witness to the growing frustration of a community.

Zoned for ‘community and education’ use back in 2002, the site was intended to be the heart of the town’s future. Instead, as the town’s population surged, the site remained a field, and the future has become a daily logistical nightmare for hundreds of local families.

Newtownmountkennedy currently holds the unenviable title of being the largest town in Wicklow without its own secondary school. Every morning, a fleet of buses and cars carries the town’s youth to Kilcoole, Greystones, Bray, and Wicklow town.

The opening of Woodstock Educate Together National School intensified discussions, as parents noted the town's growing population would soon lack a local pathway for these graduates.

Local parents and representatives launched a formal petition and campaign group in October 2024, citing the town's status as one of Ireland's fastest-growing areas.

Then a formal motion brought forward by Cllr Stephen Stokes was passed by Wicklow County Council in 2024 calling on the Department of Education to provide a secondary school as a matter of urgency.

The latest spark in the campaign is a proposal currently sitting on the Education Minister’s desk. As Greystones Community College prepares to move into its long-awaited permanent home, a high-quality suite of modular school buildings will become vacant.

Addressing the Oireacthas Education Committee recently Social Democrats Wicklow TD Jennifer Whitmore TD led the charge to have these units dismantled and reassembled on the zoned land in Newtownmountkennedy.

"The infrastructure is there, the land is there, and the demand is undeniable," Whitmore stated.

"To let these buildings go to waste while Newtown parents scramble for places in neighbouring towns would be an administrative scandal.

"I know that Greystones Community College is about to move in to its ‘forever home', and out of the modular building the school has been in.

"I'm really happy about this because firstly, GCC will now have a great new building to move into but also, crucially, because now there is a very real opportunity for Newtownmountkennedy to have a school.

"Land was zoned in Newtown in 2002 for educational purposes. When GCC move out of their modular building, the plan is that it will remain on site. Well, I think that that modular building should be moved to the zoned land in Newtown and a school should be opened there. Really, it’s a no brainer.

"I'm hoping that they'll take the suggestion seriously and follow up on it. Newtown has for too long been under resourced when it comes to schooling. The population continues to grow, and housing continues to be built in the surrounding area, and yet the Government have been dragging their feet when it comes to building this new school.

"We have a really bad habit in this country of building estates and moving people in to them, and then looking back and checking what they're missing. The result of this for families in the area is that they must travel to Kilcoole, Greystones, Wicklow town and beyond for secondary education.

“Not only is the journey a huge stress for parents and students, but actually accessing places in these schools is a challenge now too."

In response to Deputy Whitmore’s suggestion, Department officials suggest that the massive expansion of Coláiste Chraobh Abhann in Kilcoole—designed to accommodate more than 1,000 pupils—will absorb the overflow from Newtownmountkennedy.

However, Deputy Whitmore argues the Department’s data is lagging behind. With several new estates reaching completion, the unmet demand is no longer a projection—it is a reality.

Meanwhile Sinn Féin TD for Wicklow, John Brady, has criticised Simon Harris and his Government’s refusal to commit to building a new secondary school in the area, describing the response from the Education Minister as “woefully inadequate” and “symptomatic of the broader failure to plan for growing communities”.

Deputy Brady said the minister’s latest reply to his parliamentary question, in which the Department states that current demographic analysis does not justify construction of a new post-primary school, once again ignores the lived reality of families in Newtownmountkennedy, Greystones and the surrounding area.

“Parents and pupils across our community are being forced into a yearly battle for places because the Government refuses to recognise the scale of population growth.

“The Department’s own analysis shows that demand in growing areas can significantly outstrip demand, yet Ministers continue to use outdated thresholds to justify inaction."

“Existing schools in the area have already been expanded to their capacity, meaning there is no alternative to delivering a new, modern post-primary facility that this community desperately needs.

“This reactive approach results in tens of thousands of euros being spent on temporary prefabricated accommodation, rather than committing to proper forward planning and delivering a dedicated, permanent secondary school that meets the long-term needs of the community.”

The 2025 Town Centre First Plan highlighted the secondary school as the "missing piece" of the town’s puzzle. Without it, the plan warns, the town cannot achieve the "10-minute settlement" goal, where residents can access work, education, and leisure locally.

Instead, the town remains in a "commuter dormitory”, with high carbon footprints and low local engagement.