Senator James Carroll,Thomas Byrne TD,Cllr Wayne Harding,Cllr Tommy Byrne and former cllr Pat Boshell joined An Tánaiste and Minister for Education and Skills, Mary Coughlan TD, yesterday as she attended the contract signing for the new 1,000 student Coláiste na hInse, Laytown, Co Meath.

The contractor for the post-primary design and build project, one of 43 projects announced on the 12th of February 2009, will be Elliott Sammon Construction Ltd.
Elliott Sammon Construction Ltd. is a joint venture between P. Elliott Construction Limited, Dublin Road, Cavan, and Sammon Contracting Group Limited, Kilcock, Co Kildare.

A project manager, Leading Edge Project Directors, has been appointed to oversee the project on behalf of County Meath VEC.

Unlike traditional projects, with a design and build project, planning permission is only applied for after the contract is awarded.

The new 8,109 sq/m school, together with a 523 sq/m special needs unit, will provide 1,000 student places when completed.

Coláiste na hInse will be located on the same site as Scoil Oilibhéir Naofa, the €7 million 24-classroom primary school handed over by the Department earlier this year.

James Carroll added said: ‘The new school will be of enormous benefit not only to today’s students but also to the future generations that will be educated here and to the wider community. It also represents an investment of millions of euro into the local economy and will permanently transform the educational infrastructure of Laytown for the better.”

“I would like to compliment all those who had the vision and ambition to stick with this project, this is a very exciting day for Co Meath and Laytown in particular.’

An Tanaiste said “This Government continues to make substantial investment in education with more than €86 million having been directed into capital projects in Meath since 2007. The investment of €579 million in this year’s school building programme demonstrated the Government’s desire to continue investing in the productive capacity of the economy, to create construction jobs and to provide schoolchildren and teachers with the best educational environment in which to learn and work.”