Rochestown's new eight-classroom €4.5m primary school will open in September, it has been revealed.

Minister for Education Batt O'Keeffe made the announcement when he officially handed the building over to the board of management last week.

Speaking at the school, Minister O'Keeffe said: "I'm delighted to officially hand over the new school to the board of management.

"The move will come as a huge relief to the school's 35 pupils and two teachers who've been working out of temporary classrooms on the grounds of Douglas Hall AFC.

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"I want to acknowledge the support of my two Dáil colleagues in this constituency, TDs Minister Micheál Martin and Michael McGrath, whose support for this project has been unflinching," said Minister O'Keeffe.

The project includes eight mainstream classrooms, three special education rooms, staff room, office, car park and play areas.

"It's a fine example of the government's ongoing school-building programme which has been ramped up over the past decade to meet the accommodation needs of students and teachers," said Mr O'Keeffe.

"Despite the severe economic downturn, the government has earmarked €614m this year for school building projects.

"The target for this year for primary and post-primary schools is 9,475 permanent places in new schools, 3,900 permanent school places in existing schools and refurbishments to benefit over 2,400 pupils."

He added: "We expect that our capital programme for schools and colleges will create some 5,000 much-needed jobs in the construction sector."

(PR/JM)