New school in Kildare town to take in pupils from 2024
Ciarán Mather reports on the latest information relating to the highly-anticipated development
Kildare County Council (KCC) discussed more details regarding the planned school located near Kildare town.
Back in December of 2021, it was announced that a 1,000 student Curragh Post-Primary School in South Kildare would be located on the site of Magee Barracks in Kildare town, and last month, the Department of Education and Skills said it was seeking tenders from contractors to provide a Fire Safety Design Consultancy Service for the new school.
The school was further discussed at the latest Kildare-Newbridge Municipal District meeting, which was held on Wednesday, April 19.
Fianna Fáil councillor Anne Connolly brought up the school in a motion, where she called for KCC to outline 'the communications that have taken place with the Department of Education and progress made, if any, on the proposed development of a second level school at Magee Barracks, Kildare?'
Her motion was seconded by her party colleague Cllr Suzanne Doyle.
On receipt of the question from Cllr Connolly, KCC said: "The forward planning team requested an update from the Department of Education with respect to the proposed development of a second level school at Magee Barracks, Kildare.
"A major building project for the Curragh Community School will be delivered under the Department’s ADAPT Programme: this Programme uses a professional external Project Manager to co-ordinate and drive the Design Team to achieve the best possible timeframe for the project through the stages of Architectural Planning to Tender and Construction."
Fianna Fáil councillor Anne Connolly brought up the school in a motion at the latest Kildare-Newbridge Municipal District meeting, which was held on Wednesday, April 19.
"The project is to be delivered in two phases; Phase One will deliver accommodation for 450 pupils at the Magee Barracks site for the start of the 2024 school year, and Phase Two will deliver accommodation for a Long-Term Projected Enrolment for 1,000 pupils.
"A preferred design option, including the scope and extent of works to be carried out for both phases will be established during the early stages of Architectural Planning."
KCC also said that the Design Team are currently preparing a Preliminary Design, where they will assess the site and prepare their initial sketch schemes for the new school.
"They intend to initiate pre-planning consultations with the Local Authority at the earliest opportunity," the council concluded.
Cllr Connolly told KCC that she accepted the report, and added that the council and her fellow representatives should 'keep driving on with this, for the betterment of students in the area.'
Another one of her party colleagues, Cllr Noel Heavey, told KCC that a lot of parents, especially in Newbridge and Kilcullen, are 'anxious' that their children aren’t getting school places, and stressed the importance of opening the new school as soon as possible.
A representative of KCC also told those in attendance that the council will ask for a timeline on the development.