A €22M investment in Kinsale Community School will secure its future, attendees heard last Friday as Taoiseach Micheál Martin turned the first sod.

The event comes at a significant time for the school as it marks its 30th anniversary this month, having first opened its doors to second-level students on September 1st 1996.

It was originally built to accommodate 460 students but has since grown to a thriving school community of almost, 1,500 students.

The new development is a direct response to that growth and will provide the additional capacity and specialist facilities required to meet the needs of the school’s expanding student population and the growing community it serves.

The extension will include additional science facilities, specialist rooms for students with additional educations needs and a new Digital Research Hub, designed to support innovative teaching, collaboration and 21st century learning on a world-class educational campus.

School principal Fergal McCarthy said: ‘As we celebrate our 30th anniversary, this development will provide the additional capacity and outstanding facilities our growing school needs. We are extremely grateful for this investment, which will benefit generations of students and the wider Kinsale community.’

Taoiseach Micheál Martin said the €22m investment is an important commitment to the future of Kinsale Community School and the community it serves.

Mr Martin was also given a tour of the school and had his name unveiled on the school’s famous Wall of Fame, joining the likes of Marty Morrissey, Ryan Tubridy and the late Gary Fitzsimons, who generously donated money for the school’s running track.

Speeches were held afterward in the impressive Shane Fitzsimons Riverside Theatre, where Mr Martin commended the school for its success down through the years in the Stripe Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition as well in the VEX Robotics World Championship.