New school building for Gormanston College

A new 1,000 pupil purpose built school to replace the existing Franciscan College in Gormanston has been put out to tender.

The National Development Finance Agency (NDFA) has started the tender process for the new building, which will include a four classroom Special Education Needs base.

"This is very positive news for our school," said principal, Dermot Lavin.

Minister Thomas Byrne said it was great news for the areas of Gormanston, Stamullen and beyond.

"This school will be state of the art and will cater for up to 1000 pupils. The inclusion of four special education needs base is also extremely welcome," he said.

“Today’s announcement further demonstrates this Government’s commitment to create opportunities for our young people and to address all the barriers they face.

“NDFA is supporting the Department of Education and Skills by delivering an element of the Department's school building programme on its behalf.

“The NDFA will shortly be issuing a Suitability Assessment Questionnaire (SAQ) to the market. This marks the beginning of the tender process for the appointment of contractors for that programme,” added Minister Byrne.

Gormanston College is a co educational school and currently caters for 430 pupils.

The former boarding school, is now a state run school under the patronage of the Franciscan Order.

It currently includes a two classroom special needs unit which will grow to four classrooms when the new school is built.