The Minister for Education and Skills, Ruairí Quinn T.D., this week visited schools in Laois, Offaly and Kildare, following an invitation from Senator John Whelan to visit the area.

The decision by the Government to allocate a €2 billion capital budget for education has resulted in some significant school building projects taking place in Laois, Offaly and Kildare. Minister Quinn has prioritised school building projects in areas where population growth is taking place to ensure every child can access a physical school place. The plan covers schools in urban areas and rural schools, such as Timahoe National School, where a new classroom is being built to cater for the increased number of pupils in the area.

Minister Quinn said: "In Timahoe National School, the success of the school has seen the enrolment numbers increase, resulting in an extra classroom being built. Timahoe NS is a good example of a rural school which thrives and attracts pupils, and is being invested in with funding for more space,” said Senator John Whelan.

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"The investment we are making in new school buildings reflects the commitment of this Government to education. Laois, Offaly and Kildare have grown immensely in recent years and now need this investment in the education of our young people.

"No town has benefitted as much from this policy under the present Government more than Portlaoise which is seeing a transformational investment in primary school places. This was long overdue, as due to years of false dawns and false promises over half the school children in Portlaoise were being taught in temporary prefabs. Nowhere was this more chronic than in Scoil Bhride Knockmay, a Deis school which is long overdue a new build as 32 of the schools 40 classrooms are housed in costly rented prefabs."

Minister Quinn assured the Scoil Bride school authorities that they will progress to building a new school under the Government’s current capital programme. It is one of the largest primary schools in the country, catering for over 700 pupils.

In Monastervin the merger of St Peter's NS and St Eimhin NS will finally provide local primary school children with more modern facilities. There will also finally be a new school for St Paul's Secondary School on a new green field site in Monasterevin after years of delays. Senator Whelan himself is a past pupil of St Paul’s and was a member of its first Leaving Cert class in 1978.

Portlaoise, the fastest growing town in Ireland, will see the creation of two modern shared campus with three parish schools St Pauls, Sacred Heart, and Scoil Mhuire forming an education hub. The groundwork for the Parish School campus has commenced. Also in an adjacent campus in the Summerhill area of the town are Gaelscoil Portlaoise; Educate Together Portlaoise; and Maryborough NS being constructed as part of a RAPID building programme. These schools are on target for handover in July and will be ready for occupancy for the start of the new school term in September 2013.

(CD/MH)