Gaelcholáiste Carlow to construct three-storey extension

GAELCHOLÁISTE Cheatharlach will be able to shortly start construction of a three-storey extension to the north of the existing school after it received planning permission for the development from Carlow Co Council this month.

The existing school in Askea was built in 2006, according to documents submitted to the planning authority, and the three prefabricated buildings on the site are now “extremely old and falling into disrepair”. There are currently 340 students enrolled and 36 staff, with 15 class groups.

The new building will increase the capacity of the school by 80 students and will improve the facilities and range of subjects that students can take up.

The school will demolish the pre-fab buildings and a shed and replace it with a three-storey building containing a two-room special needs unit, wrote Kenny Lyons & Associates Architects. It will also include seven classrooms, two science laboratories and two specialist rooms for construction studies and music.

The old and new buildings will be connected at ground and first-floor level.

Car parking will increase from 14 to 482 spaces and there will be a four-car setdown area and three additional bike stands for students. The design also provides for external soft play areas and a sensory garden.

Kilkenny and Carlow Education and Training Board, which owns the property, had applied for permission to extend the school in July 2025. Further information was requested by the council in September 2025 and the final grant of permission came through on 19 May.

The school will remain open during the construction stage of the project.