St Mary’s Special School finally gets green light for construction

A MULTI-MILLION euro school development for Navan will see the long awaited St Mary’s Special School finally constructed, following the green light by Minister for Education Norma Foley on Friday.

In addition to St Mary’s Special School, the extension for Coláiste na Mí secondary school to accommodate 650 additional students has also been approved to go to construction.

A new PE Hall will also be constructed at Coláiste Na Mí.

The long saga to see a purpose built facility for St Mary’s has been going on for many decades with the school receiving planning permission for this new development five years ago.

St Mary’s Special school is 45 years in existence and came from small humble beginnings with less that a dozen students and two classrooms to over 90 pupils, 12 classrooms, a special care unit and an Autistic Learning Centre.

The new multi million euro development will see an 11 classroom purpose built school with ancillary special rooms constructed on the educational campus site in Johnstown which already houses St Stephen’s NS and Coláiste na Mí.

Principal, Maria Corredor, said the whole school community was very happy with the news. "We cannot wait to move into the new premises. The learning environment is very important for our students and we have been in substandard accommodation for many years.

"We got the good news late on Friday evening and we are delighted," she said.

Welcoming the news, local Fianna Fail Senator Shane Cassells said he was thrilled for all of the children, parents and boards of management that had campaigned long and hard for the development of both schools and in particular, St Mary’s Special School.

“To receive word from the Minister for Education this evening that at long last the green light was being given was just fantastic and people involved with the school are naturally thrilled,” said Senator Cassells.

“There has been a long battle to get to this point and this school more than any deserves this good news and it will be welcomed both by current students and parents and the many hundreds who have passed through the doors over the past 45 years.

“I am also thrilled to see the green light for the extension of Colaiste na Mí, which is one of the leading secondary school facilities in Meath and a student body of 1,000 students.”

The multi million euro investment for St Mary’s and Colaiste Na Mí forms part of the Department of Education’s Large Scale Development Projects.

Cllr Tommy Reilly said it was the great news, but they had been waiting for over 20 years.

"It is not before time. We got the land zoned for the school in 2003 and it is only now we have been granted funding. I welcome it for the long suffering, parents pupils and staff. The teachers are fantastic - I don’t know how they coped where they are. This should have been done long ago," he said.