Contractor gets to work on new Offaly school on site bought for just €1

The presence of a contractor on the site of a proposed new Offaly secondary school has been welcomed by local representatives in Edenderry.

Oaklands Community College will move from its current site at Sr Senan Avenue to the site of an unfinished hotel beside Dunnes Stores in the town in the coming years.

Fine Gael councillor Noel Cribbin hailed the presence of a contractor at the site as "great news for Edenderry."

"It's great to see the contractor on site of the derelict hotel site in Edenderry," he added, "this is start of the build of the new Oaklands College, a fabulous new build and playing fields that will cater for over 1,000 students and 100 plus teachers and staff."

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The hotel site has been an eyesore in Edenderry for more than a decade and Cllr Cribbin says, "this is a great example of making the best of a bad situation."

"We can all remember the carry on at the hotel site with drugs, unsociable behaviour and teenagers running along the top of the steel girders.

"We as a group of councillors raised this issues strongly with Offaly County Council and in fairness local man and Director of Services Declan Conlon took on the task and succeeded in getting the property off the banks for €1.

"At the same time Oaklands Collage were at the at their wits end as they were in a landlocked situation as the school buildings had outgrown their landbank," he explained.

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"I met with principal Ger Connolly, sadly deceased since, and I suggested that the hotel site would be a great location for a new school and that the council were now in ownership of the site. After more negotiations, the council sold on the site for €1 to the Laois Offaly ETB.

"This is now going to be a multi million Euro build and will see Edenderry well into the future with educational needs, and with St Mary’s Secondary just after completing a new extension, it’s great news all around and a great educational future ahead for students and teachers for years to come in Edenderry."