The acquisition of a new site for north Clare secondary school is hoped to secure the future of the area ‘for another 75 years’.
The Department of Education has purchased land to deliver a new school building for Mary Immaculate Secondary School in Lisdoonvarna.
Subject to planning and contract finalisation, seven acres of land will be provided for the new state of the art purpose built facility.
The project falls under the ADAPT programme, which will appoint an external manager to over see the design team and enable the accelerated delivery of the building.
Lisdoonvarna Fine Gael Councillor, Joe Garrihy, believes the project will provide a spark for rural regeneration in the north of the county.
A year after the school celebrated its 75 year anniversary, he says this will enable the school to serve the region for 75 more.
Plans were initially drafted in April 2021 and consisted of the construction of a STEM block for specialised classrooms and have the current school building in use for standard issue classrooms.
However, given the landlocked nature of the school’s grounds, the decision was taken to submit new plans for a new building on a different site.
As part of the new proposal, sporting facilities such as a full sized PE Hall were included alongside gym equipment and approval was granted for the project in January 2022.
Principal, Mona Hynes, claims the new school building will enable the town to thrive long into the future.
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