Belmullet school gets green light for extension

Belmullet school gets green light for extension in 2012


Anton McNulty

Our Lady’s Secondary School in Belmullet received an early Christmas present when it was announced that the proposed extension and refurbishment will go ahead next year.
The school’s project will be included in the list of building projects which were given the go-ahead to go to construction in 2012. The school advanced to tender stage at the beginning of the month and this was warmly welcomed by Minister of State for Tourism and Sport, Michael Ring.
“I had contacted the Minister for Education and Skills Ruairí Quinn on behalf of this school,” said Minister Ring following the announcement. “In all, €430m will be spent on educational infrastructure next year – representing the first phase of a €2 billion five-year plan for major school building projects.
“The Government are prioritising investment in school buildings in line with the Government’s Capital Investment Programme and I am delighted the Our Lady’s Secondary School will advance to Construction Stage in 2012,” concluded Minister Ring.
The news was also welcomed by Ballina based TD, Dara Calleary but he expressed him disappointment that no other school in the county was included given the number of government TD’s in the county.
“Since being elected in 2007 I have been working closely with the school principal and management to move this project forward and I am delighted for everyone involved that the project is now being progressed to construction stage.
“While I am pleased for Our Lady’s, I am disappointed that this is the only project in Mayo that is included in next year’s building plan. Considering that we have a Mayo Taoiseach, a Mayo Minister and two Government backbench TDs I am very disappointed that no other schools are celebrating positive news this week. I was particularly hoping that Bonniconlon NS would have featured in the Minister’s plans but unfortunately that is not the case,” said the former Minister of State.