Educate Together School In Gorey Set To Accept Up To 1000 Students

A school in Gorey is set to receive an extension to accommodate the population growth in the area.

The Department of Education has told local officials the Educate Together will now be expanded to take on 1,000 students.

Major housing developments will soon get underway in the town which could raise the population by at least 2,300.

Wicklow Wexford TD Malcolm Byrne says the resources need to grow the same way the town does:

"Originally the school was to be for 500 students, that was expanded to 750 and the Department now accepts that we're going to be looking at up to 1,000 students.

"We will now have three schools in the town with 1,000 pupils plus and my concern is to ensure we have adequate education provision for the continued growth across North Wexford as the population continues to grow."

Gorey Community School caters to more than 1,500 students while Creagh College also has more than 1,000 children attending.

Deputy Byrne says every place is needed to deal with an expected population boom in the next few years:

"The Department have gotten some of the figures wrong around the population growth in North Wexford before.

"Over the next 8 years, just in Gorey town alone, between 2,300 and 3,000 additional homes.

"So with that dramatic growth we're going to see additional pressures on a whole range of areas of infrastructure but particularly on education.

"I just want to ensure that at primary and second level, we have enough places."

No timeline has been given for the expansion as of yet but Deputy Byrne says they will be keeping the pressure on as time is of the essence.

That report was funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.