A Laois TD has welcomed the resumption of construction on a Laois special school, while criticising the Department of Education's lack of intervention.

Laois Independent Republican TD Brian Stanley has said while he welcome the progress on Saplings School in Graiguecullen to restart construction, questions still remain.

“This school has been in need of permanent accommodation for a long number of years and the Department of Education and Government have completely shirked their responsibilities," the Deputy told the Leinster Express / Laois Live.

"I have raised this issue a number of times in the Dáil in an effort to get the Department of Education to fulfil their responsibilities and government ministers have failed to do so.

"It's good news that works are to restart, but it is clear that there is still a significant funding gap, and government cannot continue to dodge its responsibilities to children who have special needs in the Laois and Carlow area," he said.

"I will continue to put pressure on Fianna Fail and Fine Gael ministers to ensure that this badly needed school can be successfully completed.

"All children in Laois are entitled to an education," Deputy Stanley finished.

The Leinster Express / Laois Live recently broke the news that Saplings School for Children with Autism in Graiguecullen have announced that works on the derelict construction site are set to recommence this year.

Construction of the 1,200sqm school for students with special needs started in March 2023, and quickly came to halt in late 2023 due to a lack of funding.

Funding for the construction of the school was originally provided through the Irish Immigrant Investor Programme (IIP), which gave 'high net-worth individuals' from non-EEA countries Irish residency, if they invested a minimum of €1 million euro to Irish projects for at least three years.

When this programme closed, funds ran dry for the construction of the school. The half-built school has laid untouched since then at the site in Fruithill, while students, teachers and SNAs are currently operating from prefabs.

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"While a funding gap remains in order to fully realise the original vision for the school, this latest progress brings Saplings significantly closer to delivering a state-of-the-art educational and therapeutic environment that will serve pupils and staff for generations to come," representatives of the school said.

"The resumption of construction marks renewed momentum and confidence in the project's future," they finished.