Next phase begins in fight for new school in Scoil Mhuire Carrick-on-Shannon

Funding has been approved for two new classrooms at Scoil Mhuire in Carrick-on-Shannon — a move seen as the next phase in a long-running campaign for a new, purpose-built school.

The school’s Parents Association, Board of Management, and wider community have been calling for a single-campus facility for more than a decade. Since the boys’ and girls’ national schools merged in 2013, Scoil Mhuire has operated across two separate campuses, despite its student population doubling to around 500 pupils.

Overcrowding and poor conditions have continued to worsen, with campaigners stating that not a single classroom meets modern standards — including size and basic infrastructure.

Local TD Frank Feighan confirmed this week that the Minister for Education, Helen McEntee TD, has approved funding for two prefabricated classrooms to help ease immediate capacity issues.

But according to Louise Murray, a member of both the Board of Management and the New School Committee, the announcement changes little in the wider fight for a permanent solution.

“This makes absolutely no difference to our fight,” she said. “These are prefabs we were always going to get — it’s not a new announcement, just something being repackaged to look like progress.”

She stressed that while the extra space is urgently needed, it does not represent a commitment to the new school building the community has been working toward. “You don’t get the school without the nod — and this isn’t it,” Murray said. “It’s a drop in the ocean of what’s needed.”

Murray also raised concerns about the loss of recreational space to accommodate the new prefabs, calling it another compromise in an already stretched environment.

The school community has been actively campaigning for a new school on a greenfield site identified as the only viable option. That site, located near Summerhill, has been earmarked for development in the upcoming Local Area Plan for Carrick-on-Shannon, set to be published this month. The existing Dublin Road site has already been ruled out by both the school and the Department of Education due to lack of space.

“All our ducks have been in a row for years,” Murray said. “We’re not starting from scratch — what we need now is a real commitment.”

While all local TDs have voiced support for the project and committed to working with the school to advance the plans, Murray said no clear timeline or funding promise has been given by the Department so far.

“This is the next phase, but it’s not the finish line,” she said. “Our campaign continues — and we won’t stop until Carrick has the school it deserves.”

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