Tipperary Education and Training Board(TETB) says that preliminary discussions have already taken place with Mary Immaculate College in Thurles regarding the acquisition of a site on its campus for a new school building for Coláiste Mhuire.
The Board statement comes following the release of detail of a departmental determination on future school enrolment by Tipperary TD Jackie Cahill.
Deputy Cahill’s action has been criticised by Cllr Micheal Lowry, chairperson of Coláiste Mhuire Board of Management who says no public comment was to be made while dialogue continued between the ETB and the Department.
TETB confirms that Tipperary ETB is in negotiations with the Department on the school’s accommodation requirements into the future. In 2018 enrolment stood at 332, this has increased to 530 this year and the Department predicts a longer term increase to potentially 750 students.
The Department’s proposal to meet these future accommodation requirements is the provision of 30 new rooms on the existing site at Castlemeadows, beside Semple Stadium.
The Department response was discussed by the Tipperary ETB Board on Tuesday, September 5, and by the Coláiste Mhuire Co-Ed Board of Management on Wednesday, September 6.
Due to increased maintenance issues at the current school building, and what it calls “limited space for future expansion” in Castlemeadows, the Tipperary ETB Board unanimously agreed that “a new school building at a greenfield site in Thurles best suits the needs of the school students and staff into the future.”
