Coláiste Dhún Masc / Dunamaise College Portlaoise has applied to Laois County Council for planning permission to build a brand new secondary school in the town.
The new school will be built to cater for 1,000 students in Portlaoise and the surrounding areas.
The planning notice for the new school will be published on Tuesday and the planning permission documentation will be submitted to Laois County Council immediately following this.
The site for the new Dunamase College secondary school is located on the ring road, Portlaoise.
There will be two separate entrances for the new school to assist with the free flow of traffic, one located on the Timahoe Road and the other on the ring road.
The news has received cross-party positivity, with local TD’s on both sides of the political divide welcoming the news.
Laois Fianna Fáil TD Sean Fleming, Minister of State, as well as local Sinn Féin TD Brian Stanley each offered their views on the matter.
“I am grateful for the work of the Laois Offaly Education Training Board (LOETB) in initiating and their future management of this major school project,” Deputy Fleming said.
“This is good news for Portlaoise and the surrounding local areas.
“This will kick-start the process for the development of the new Dunamase College.”
Deputy Stanley, meanwhile, said: “This long awaited development is badly needed.
“Currently, Coláiste Dhún Masc is located on two different sites at Tower Hill, the old Technical school and the Christian Brothers school.
“Enrolment is restricted to approximately 550 pupils, despite huge demands for Secondary School places in Portlaoise. The new development at Summerhill will help to address this.”
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