Education Minister, John O’Dowd, has visited Castle Tower School in Ballymena two days after announcing plans for a new building for the school.

Castle Tower, which caters for children with special needs up to 19 years of age, will see plans proceed for a £21.8million new build.

Mr O’Dowd said: "This is my second visit to Castle Tower School as Minister for Education. During my first visit last year, I was struck by the caring ethos of the school and the important role it plays in offering appropriate education and pastoral provision to some of our most vulnerable children and young people. Unfortunately it was also apparent that the school’s facilities, which are split over three sites, were not of a sufficient standard to meet the complex needs of its pupils.

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"On Monday of this week I announced new facilities for 18 local schools – five of them special schools. While I would like to have funded every project that needed doing, within the budget I have available, I had to make difficult decisions on priorities for investment. I was pleased to announce a new-build project for Castle Tower as part of the £173million investment and, at £21.8million, it is the largest investment in any individual project at this time."

(CD/GK)