St. Fachtna’s de la Salle will merge with Rossa College and Mercy Heights. Pic: Google
SKIBBEREEN is in line for a new state-of-the-art secondary school accommodating 1,000 students following the recent announcement of the Government’s much-touted €2.25 billion investment stimulus package.
The new school secondary school will replace Mercy Heights, De la Salle and Rossa College and bring them all together under one roof.
Plans to amalgamate the schools on one modern campus have been in the pipeline for years but it seems that those plans will finally become a reality under the new stimulus package.
The Skibb project is one of several earmarked under the €280 million education section of the overall €2.25 billion investment plan.
The project will be delivered as part of a Public Private Partnership (PPP) programme, with the private sector bearing the initial cost of the project which should ensure that the new school will is delivered more quickly.
The project was initially given the green light by Education Minister Ruairi Quinn under the School Building Programme in March but was still waiting for funding to become available.
A 19-acre site has already been acquired for the new school at Gortnaclohy.
The news was welcomed by local politicians including Labour TD Michael McCarthy who said, “This investment is a particular source of pride for me as I have been campaigning for many years on this project.
“Not only does it mean that local pupils will be educated in a more modern and cohesive school environment, but it will also generate a number of teaching, construction and ancillary jobs in the local area along the way.”
Fine Gael TD Noel Harrington added, “Skibbereen is a small town which certainly does not need three secondary schools so I am delighted that the Government has done the logical thing by bringing the schools together once and for all.
“Some of the buildings which house these three schools are in need of repair. It makes sense, as part of the €280 million provided for investment in the education sector, to build a replacement school instead of pouring money into restoration works.
“By building new premises, we will stimulate the local economy, create jobs in the badly hit construction sector and ensure cost saving measures for the State,” he said.
Very good news indeed. (See the new school in Bantry if you want to get an idea of how fabulous this may be—-the Bantry school looks like a pretty good-looking City Polytechnic building, or a little airport. Dunmany school is impressive too, although Bantry is the best I’ve seen.) It is time we moved our schooling environments out of the 19th century. It will be good for the students, of course, but it will be a powerful boost for the local economy (not just the building of the new school but the remodelling of the old school properties). Also, we will have a new West Cork Arts Centre building in the next couple of years, so some good things to look forward to in Skib (which is a statement I have not put together before). Viz the new school, let us not (please) give it a dumb-ass, boring name such as Skibbereen Community College, let us call it something more interesting such as The Ilen Abbey School (both in reference to the ancient centre of learning that once existed in this area, but also because up there in the heights of Gortnaclohy the place will be looking down on the flow of the Ilen river running out to Baltimore and also on the site of the old abbey at Abbeystrowery), or maybe simply ‘The Abbey School’ (or just The Abbey)?
Its ok to build a new school but what will happen the three old schools when the new one will be built will they be left idle i hope not cause if that is the case it would be a disgrace and a complete waste of money in these current hard times. There is enough of empty buildings in skibbereen i just hope the three schools will not be left go in to rack and ruin. Anne Murphy
I agree with Anne,3 more idle buildings is the last thing the town needs. I’d much rather my child was 1in300 than1 in 1000,after all it’s not the buildings that matter, it’s the quality of teaching and staff dedication that’s important.