Anna Marie Flynn
THE Tánaiste and Minister for Education and Skills officially opened a €240,000 extension in St Tiernan’s College, Crossmolina last week.
Mary Coughlan TD, was on hand last Monday afternoon, to formally cut the ribbon at the Crossmolina second level school which was allocated a devolved grant of €240,000 for the provision of a new assembly hall and two additional classrooms.
St Tiernan’s College is one of 1,490 schools across the country that will benefit from this year’s €122 million Summer Works Scheme.
Speaking at the school, the Tánaiste commended the school’s principal, Conor O’Reilly, teachers, pupils and the local community for working so diligently on the extension project.
She also paid tribute to the school’s success in gaelic football, the Formula1 in Schools Competition and, most notably, the Schools Business Partnership Programme, an innovative Government-backed programme that twins schools serving disadvantaged communities with major local businesses.
St Tiernan’s College is linked to Lionbridge Technologies Incorporated, Ballina.
“Since it was set up in 2001, more than 15,000 students from schools involved in the Department’s School Completion Programme have signed up for the Schools Business Partnership programme.
“It matches post-primary schools targeted through the Department of Education and Science’s School Completion programme with a major local company. Students are assigned a local business mentor to help them through school, receive advice on CV preparation and interviews, and sign up for work experience,” she said.
“Staying in school is vital to a young person’s development and life chances. Programmes such as the Schools Business Partnership equip young people with valuable entrepreneurial skills and increase school retention rates,” added Minister Coughlan.
The Tánaiste said a total investment of €579 million in this year’s school building programme demonstrated the Government’s desire to continue investing in the productive capacity of the economy, to create construction jobs and to provide schoolchildren and teachers with the best educational environment in which to learn and work.
