Three schools to receive funding for building and expansion projects

PRESENTATION de la Salle College in Bagenalstown has received funding for a new school building for its 750 students, it was announced last week. “It’s fantastic, we are so excited,” said principal Micheal Hickey.

The new school building will be built where the school’s GAA pitches are, which means that the students will not have to move while the building is being constructed. Mr Hickey also said that the new school will mean that students will have access to more classrooms and more specialised classrooms. At present, some of the school’s classrooms are in temporary buildings.

Two other schools in the county, Bennekerry National School and St Laserian’s Special School, also received funding for extensions to existing school buildings.

Rachel Dolan, principal of St Laserian’s Special School, said that the planning for its extension is only in its early stages, with the exact location yet to be determined. Ms Dolan said: “As welcome as additional accommodation is, it has to be really, really carefully planned for the cohort that we already have.” 

Ireland is currently experiencing a nationwide shortage of places in special schools for students with additional needs. In March 2025, the group Equality in Education, which represents 200 parents of children with additional needs, staged a sleep-out protest outside Leinster House to bring attention to what it called the ‘ongoing crisis in special education’.

The funding for schools in Carlow will come from the €5 billion worth of funding that has been set aside under the government’s Education Sectoral Plan to provide additional capacity and modernisation of facilities, with strong special education dimension to all projects. 

The plan has been criticised by some for not providing a commitment to deliver these projects within a certain timeframe and the amount of funding set aside for the youth sector, which is 1% of the total budget.