Concern expressed in Dáil over lack of progress on new Cork special school  

A Cork TD has criticised a lack of progress on a new Cork special school set to open this September, saying “no progress has been made” since it was announced before the general election.

In mid October 2024, the then education minister Norma Foley and then minister of state at the Department of Education Hildegarde Naughton announced that five new special schools would open across Ireland for the 2025/26 school year.

The new special school in Cork was to be one of those five, with two in Dublin and one each in Monaghan and Tipperary.

Queried

Speaking in the Dáil this week, Fianna Fáil TD for Cork North Central, Pádraig O’Sullivan, queried why no progress has been made on the new school yet.

“Like many other public representatives in Cork, I welcomed the announcement in October, before the election, by the then Minister, Deputy Foley, that we would get a special school in Cork, albeit in an undisclosed location that was subject to negotiation,” he said.

“Fast forward five months and I know from talking to people on the ground that no progress has been made in acquiring a site for this building to open in September.

“No time is being allowed between now and then to refurbish the existing building. It cannot be delivered by next September,” he added.

Commitment

“We gave people a commitment that a special school would open in September 2025 and I just cannot see at this point in time how it will be done.

“I ask that this matter be treated with urgency and that the Department of Education told to get its act together to source the building or the site and get on with delivering the special school.”

Taoiseach Micheál Martin told his party colleague that he needed more detail on where the project was at, and promised to work on the issue, saying: “The most difficult thing for a school is acquiring a site. It is easier said than done. Once you get the site, you can do an awful lot in terms of design. I have seen schools turned around faster in the past.”

He added: “I will certainly see what I can do to progress it.”