St Paul’s among 12 Cork schools sanctioned for expansion works 

St Paul’s Special School in Montenotte is one of 12 Cork schools which will progress to tender and/or construction for new school buildings or extensions this year and next year, under plans announced last week by minister Hildegarde Naughton.

School principal Margaret Meade told The Echo: “We’re delighted to get the go-ahead, it’s amazing news.”

She explained that the school previously had a large prefab which accommodated three special classrooms, a kitchen, nurses room, multi-sensory room and a reception area.

“It became derelict in 2019, and we had to move everyone from there to the main building, so we had to get rid of a lot of facilities like the physio room, home economics room, soft play room and breakout rooms. 

"We had to put classrooms where there shouldn’t be classrooms. We thought we would get a build very soon, but it’s taken until now,” Ms Meade said.

Squashed

The plan that the government has agreed to fund is an eight classroom building to replace the three classroom prefab, she explained.

“Our school was built in 1987, and the needs of the children have changed greatly since then. We now have over 40 wheelchair users, and currently because of us all being in this one squashed building, there are 10 to 12 students in wheelchairs using classrooms upstairs, and our lift can take max two people, so it takes three trips. 

"The new build will be amazing for us, it will very much change the experience for lots of the students. We’re delighted to get the go-ahead, so now we hope to get things moving quickly with the building. There’s an absolutely beautiful design, and it’s currently in for planning permission, once we get that it will hopefully be all systems go.”