Extension of planning permission sought for Dunshaughlin school building project

Five years after planning permission was granted for Dunshaughlin Community National School's permanent school building, a sod has yet to be turned and now the Department of Education has had to seek an extension to the planning permission which is due to expire next month.

In December 2020, Meath County Council granted planning permission for a two-storey eight-classroom primary school building and a two classroom Special Educational Needs (SEN) base along with general purpose hall, support teaching spaces and ancillary accommodation on a site beside the Willows development on the Dublin Road.

The school will share a campus with Coláiste Ríoga, a secondary school which is also under the patronage of LMETB and currently in accommodation on the permanent site.

Planning permission is for a period of five years and with this due to expire on 14th December, it means the Department of Education had to apply to further extend the planning permission period.

Parents have been extremely frustated at the slow pace of delivering the permanent school building with pupils from the growing school currently accommodated in prefabs on a confined site on the grounds of Dunshaughlin and Royal Gaels GFC. It is also at the opposite side of the town to where the school will ultimately be located.

Dunshaughlin CNS opened in 2020 and while parents anticipated being in temporary accommodation for a year or two, they did not foresee that work would not have even started five years later.

The project finally went to tender a year ago with the closing date for receipt of tenders passing at the end of February. It is understood that the first and second placed tenderers pulled out and now the Department is engaging with the third placed tenderer

Outlining the background to the delay in documentation submitted with the planning application, the Department cited the delays caused generally in the school building programme because of the Covid 19 pandemic and afterwards that building cost inflation led to uncertainly in procurement with some projects paused pending a review.

"Following the stabilisation of market conditions, the Department of Education and Youth advanced the delivery of the permanent school, issuing tender documentation to selected contractors in December 2024 after completion of a pre-qualification process. During tender review and due diligence, two contractors withdrew from the process. However the procurement process is now as an advanced stage. The appointment of the preferred contractor is scheduled for the end of November 2025 with commencement of construction works to follow shortly thereafter," the document explained.

When contacted by the Meath Chronicle, a Department of Education spokesperson said: "The process of appointing the design team from the Department’s Frameworks of Consultants was completed in September 2023 and the project proceeded to tender on 12th December 2024. The tender period closed on the 26th February and the tenders have been assessed in line with procurement guidelines. The Department issued the Letter of Intent to the contractor in August 2025. It is anticipated that the Letter of Authorisation will issue to the contractor within the coming weeks, putting the contract in place, and commencement of works on site. "

The spokesperson also said that the department will continue to liaise with the school and patron regarding interim accommodation pending delivery of their permanent school

Meanwhile Sinn Féin spokesperson on Education and Youth, Darren O’Rourke TD, has said that the change in Minister for Education and Youth must not lead to any further delays for the new school building projects for Coláiste Ríoga and Dunshaughlin Community National School, branding the ongoing hold-ups as “inexcusable.”

The Meath East TD raised the delays in the Dáil recently with the then-Minister for Education, Helen McEntee. Following a cabinet reshuffle, Hildegarde Naughton TD has now been appointed as the new Minister for Education and Youth.

“Planning permission for this vital campus project was granted a full five years ago, in November 2020. Today, in November 2025, our students and school communities are still waiting, with no builder on site and no certainty about when construction will even begin.

“The update I received from the former Minister in the Dáil confirms the deeply worrying situation we find ourselves in. The fact that the first and second-placed tenderers withdrew from the process speaks to a wider crisis in the management of the Department’s capital projects. While it was claimed there is “nothing unusual” about this, it is clear that systemic issues are causing contractors to walk away, leading to catastrophic delays for our children’s education."

“With a new Minister, Hildegarde Naughton, now in office, I am demanding that she personally intervenes to break this logjam. I have written to her in this regard. The Department of Education and Youth must immediately issue the letter of acceptance to the remaining contractor and provide a definitive, public timeline for the commencement and completion of these projects. The children of Dunshaughlin cannot be left in limbo any longer. They deserve modern, permanent school facilities, and they deserve them now.”