Kinsale school to get €22m expansion as sod turned by Taoiseach on project

Taoiseach Micheál Martin has turned the sod on a €22m, five-storey expansion to Kinsale Community School, hailing the school as exemplifying many of the positive advances in Irish society.

Kinsale Community School began 30 years ago, following the amalgamation of Our Lady of the Rosary Secondary School and Kinsale Vocational School.

The school first opened its doors to second-level students on 1 September 1996 and, having originally been built to accommodate 460 students, has since grown to a thriving school community of almost 1,500 students.

The new development is a direct response to that growth and will provide the additional capacity and specialist facilities required to meet the needs of the school’s expanding student population and the growing community it serves.

The extension will include additional science facilities, specialist rooms for students with additional educational needs, and a new digital research hub designed to support innovative teaching, collaboration and 21st-century learning.

Speaking at the sod-turning ceremony, Mr Martin – who served as education minister from 1997 to 2000 – recalled great controversy around the time of school amalgamations and said Kinsale exemplified the positive benefits of that initiative.

“I was here in my early years as Minister for Education and I’ve continued to witness this school flower, and in many ways it reflects many of the positive advances in Irish society, particularly in education, which then leads into contributions to wider society and the economy,” he said.

The Taoiseach added that the €22m investment recognised the school’s European connections through Erasmus and Jean Monnet programmes, Young Scientist wins, and its position as the “first, best school in Ireland in terms of robotics”.

“I am delighted to mark the beginning of this significant development as the school celebrates 30 years of education in Kinsale,” he said.

Principal Fergal McCarthy said the development would provide the additional capacity and facilities the growing school needed.

“We are extremely grateful for this investment, which will benefit generations of students and the wider Kinsale community,” he said.