Deputy Pat the Cope Gallagher has welcomed the confirmation he has received from the Department of Education, that St Mary’s National School Stranorlar has been sanctioned to move to the next stage in the project delivery.
The Department has requested that St Mary’s NS move to draw up a list of contractors for pre-qualification, which will then see the project move to tender stage by the end of this current year and the Department are anticipating the project will move to construction by early 2019.
The pre-qualification stage will be overseen by the school’s design team along with the Department of Education officials from their building section.
It is expected that this stage of progressing the project will move seamlessly and in a time efficient manner, without any unnecessary delays, this will then allow the project to be tendered for construction and the appointment of a contractor.
Pat the Cope said “Having worked extremely closely with this project over the last number of years, I can now confidently say, we have an end date in sight for the delivery of this urgently needed school for the Stranorlar – Ballybofey area.
“Over the past number of months I have successfully managed to move this project forward at a much quicker timeframe, and it will be essential we maintain this momentum over the coming months in order to get this project over the line.
“I wish to compliment the Principal, Board of Management and the staff of St Marys NS who have worked tirelessly to get this project to the stage it is now currently at. The new school building will provide 24 new mainstream classrooms, PE Hall and a suite of resource rooms and the new school will be situated on a 5 acre site.
“The current enrolment of the school stands at 448 pupils and the new school building will allow for further expansion in enrolment up to 720 pupils. The new school building will be state of the art in design and layout and will serve the needs of the school community for many generations ahead.”
Pat the Cope further added he will continue his routine contact with the Department to ensure this project gets delivered in the timeline now outlined.
“There is an urgent need for a new school at St Mary’s and a great deal of time has evolved since this campaign first started to provide a new school for Stranorlar. I am confident with the continued goodwill from the Department buildings section that we will see a new school being provided for St Mary’s, I am informed that we will see blocks being built on site by mid-2019 – that is the Department’s goal and that is the aim we must all now maintain for this project.
“The new school will, without doubt, inject a new lease of life to the school going population who depend on St Mary’s for their primary education. Our children deserve the best possible opportunities when they are in our educational system and having the necessary school building and facilities is an essential part in insuring they get every possible opportunity in their school going years,” he added.
