Works on new special school in North Cork expected to be completed within weeks

Works on a new special school in North Cork are finally nearing completion, readying it for opening a year later than planned.

Works are still ongoing at the site of the former primary school building in Carrignavar, which has missed multiple deadlines, despite being built under a programme that education minister Hildegarde Naughton says is designed to progress building projects quickly.

North Cork Community Special School was one of five new special schools across Ireland that were announced in November 2024 as being established for the 2025/26 school year.

However, due to issues with wastewater treatment capacity and delays in starting works, the school opened last September in surplus accommodation in Fermoy.

When this temporary accommodation was announced in March 2025, the department said the target was to have works to the Carrignavar premises done “as early as possible in the 2025/26 school year”.

In November 2025, then-education minister Helen McEntee said the target timeline for completion of the works was “during the first quarter of the 2026 calendar year”.

Both deadlines passed, and the school completed the 2025/2026 school year in its temporary accommodation.

Ms Naughton said in the Dáil recently that the former primary school property in Carrignavar is still being “repurposed to provide permanent accommodation for the school”.

She said: “The repurposing project is being delivered under the department’s SEN reconfiguration and modular accommodation programme which facilitates the progression of the project as quickly as possible.”

“The programme involves the use of project management supports which is designed to enable the accommodation to be provided in a timely manner,” Ms Naughton said.

“Repurposing works are nearing completion and it is intended that the building will be ready for occupation in the coming weeks.”