Joy for local schools as new buildings set to start

St Colman's Primary in Lambeg, Taughmonagh Primary and Scoil Na Fuiseoige have been given almost 8.5 million between them to enable construction to start.

Scoil Na Fuiseoige, which is currently housed in a series of mobile classrooms, recently launched a campaign calling on the Education Minister Caitrona Ruane to give them approval. They have been granted 1.65 million for their new school.

St Colman's in Lambeg has already vacated their old school and have been temporarily housed in the former Balmoral High School. The have been given 3.306million to enable them to build on their current site in Lambeg.

There was also good news for Taughmonagh Primary which will get 3.539million.

They are among the 13 schools throughout Northern Ireland which are sharing a 13 million pot for capital projects. The Education Minister also announced that a further 10 million has been identified to tackle the maintenance backlog in schools.

Making the announcement on Thursday (August 5) the Minister said: "I put forward a strong case for greater investment in the schools' estate and welcome this additional 13million capital funding. Potentially, it could see major progress being made on 14 schools' projects and minor works carried out in many other schools.

"To ensure we can spend this money before the end of the financial year we have identified projects which are well advanced in terms of financial, planning and tendering processes. We need to make rapid progress to realise the full potential of this allocation and are working closely with the schools and managing authorities to resolve outstanding issues."

She went on to say: "Some schools will be disappointed that they are not included on this list. I can assure them that I will continue to lobby for more money and if and when I receive funds I will drive forward with the school building programme."

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