Local Fianna Fáil TD Margaret Conlon is confident that she will secure funding for a full refurbishment of The Model Primary School in Monaghan town.

Deputy Conlon arranged a meeting for the school’s Board of Management and the school Principal with the Minister for Education and Skills, An Tánaiste Mary Coughlan TD, this week and she is hopeful that the Minister will view the school’s application for funding positively. “The Minister of the patron of the school and this is the first time that the school’s authorities have been able to secure a meeting with her or any previous Minister for Education on this issue.”

According to Deputy Conlon, there is no doubt that the Model School is very much in need of refurbishment and following a recent visit to the school she met with the Tánaiste to make the case to her for the necessary funding and the Tánaiste agreed to meet a delegation from the school. “As the school building is a listed building, it is not as straight forward as other school refurbishments. There were also difficulties locating alternative accommodation for the school while refurbishment works were carried out,” the local TD stated.

Deputy Conlon added that it was also difficult securing the necessary funding for the alternative school accommodation. She said that the Department originally felt that the cost of renting alternative accommodation was excessive but the Tánaiste has now assured her that if she can get evidence that accommodation can be secured for a more reasonable price for the decanting of the school, and if it is found to be in compliance with fire safety and planning regulations, she will do what she can to meet requests to move this refurbishment project forward. “If the funding is approved, I would be hopeful that the work would start very quickly. The associated works will also provide a welcome and timely source of work for local construction workers and those in other associated trades,” concluded Deputy Conlon.