Planning permission has been given to the Department of Education for the construction of a temporary prefab secondary school in Murrough.
The project will involve the construction of a two prefab building, each two storeys in height, which will house three classrooms, an arts room, and a home economics/science hybrid room.
The site of the new school facilities is at Grainnach House, on the Dublin Road, which is owned by the Seventh-Day Adventist Church, which has granted the department permission to build there.
Grainach House itself has already been converted to a 39 student secondary school run by Educate Together, catering to first year students only.
These two are expected to operate together, and the new school facilities will accommodate 48 students, and two new teachers.
These prefabs are only intended to be in use for a single year before a more permanent school is delivered, and “no longer than two years” planning permission was sought.
“The Department of Education and Skills have appointed a Design Team to deliver a number of interim schools in specific areas,” the application states.
“These interim schools are intended to provide facilities until such a time as the permanent school for that area is constructed.”
“It is proposed to provide an interim school as a series of pre-fabricated buildings located at Galway Educate Together Secondary School”.
A new pedestrian crossing and footpath will be created from the proposed drop off point to the school entrance.
The development also includes the provision of 10 car parking spaces, which the application states will be leased from Galway Crystal for the interim period.
There were no third party objections or other observations received by the city council relating to this development.
Galway City Council granted approval for the secondary school with a total of five conditions attached.
Condition number 2 focused on the temporary nature of the proposed building, and said “the temporary buildings hereby approved shall be removed within five years of the date of this permission unless permission for their retention for a further period is granted.”
This is due to the fact that they may deteriorate and “become detrimental to amenity” over a longer period.
