Deputy Jennifer Whitmore, Social Democrats TD for Wicklow has welcomed confirmation from the Department of Education that Greystones Community College is expected to go to tender for construction later this year.
The Minister for Education confirmed that the build would be included in the next tranche of schools listed for building projects by the Department. The Minister for Education was responding to a question from Deputy Whitmore.
Deputy Whitmore said “This is very positive news for Greystones Community College as it means the project is progressing well. It also means that once tendering starts later this year, construction could commence as early as 2023. The Minister confirmed construction can take 70 weeks to complete but getting to that point can often be the longest part of the journey towards getting a new school build. Now that the Minister has confirmed Greystones Community College’s new building is to go to tender this year, the timeline is progressing nicely.
“I hope the school community can gain some hope from this as I know it has been a long and difficult journey for the school. I am regularly in touch with the Principal, teachers, staff and parents and have been for many years as they campaigned to move this project along. Students have been waiting a long time for dedicated, permanent, fitted classrooms and hopefully they’ll be able to realise this in the few years ahead.
“We also need to acknowledge that demand for school places in the area continues to rise and so it is important that there are no delays in the timeline for getting this new school up and running in Charlesland.
“However, the Department and Wicklow County Council have moved quickly in securing planning permission to build and ensuring the tendering process will take effect in the next tranche of schools due construction. I will be keeping in touch with the school throughout tendering to make sure everything goes as smoothly as possible,” concludes Whitmore.
