Celbridge's Three Campus Project: Progress Is Being Made, But No Completion Date Given

The campus aims to relocate Celbridge Community School, St. Raphael’s Special School, and St. Patrick’s National School to a 17.74 acre site at Donaghcumper

Officials from the Department of Education have confirmed that the Celbridge’s Three School Campus project is progressing and is “very important” to the Department.

The campus aims to relocate Celbridge Community School, St. Raphael’s Special School, and St. Patrick’s National School to a 17.74 acre site at Donaghcumper.

Speaking at a meeting of the Public Accounts Committee on Tuesday morning, the Assistant Secretary for Planning, Hubert Loftus, told Social Democrats TD for Kildare North, Aidan Farrelly, that the campus will “create great opportunities for inclusion for students with additional needs.

“That project is part of our in the NDFA (National Development Finance Agency) program,” Mr Loftus said.

He said that the project has been impacted by particular site issues, but claimed "from a Department perspective, [they are] very conscious of the importance of it and the urgency of it."

However, no confirmation of a completion date for the project was given.

As reported by Kfm in 2024, the Department of Education confirmed it had acquired the Donaghcumper site to facilitate the three schools.

Calls for progress reports on the Three Campus project were being requested by local councillors date as far back as 2021.

The progress of the Three School Campus project has been raised in the Dáil multiple times in the past few months by Fine Gael TD for Kildare North, Joe Neville.

In November 2025, St. Raphael's Special School was mentioned in the Dáil by Fianna Fáil Kildare North TD, Naoise Ó Cearúil, in recent months, as he made the case that Kildare North’s population jumped 12.8% between 2016 and 2022, and has grown even further since - but the services haven’t kept pace.

Source: OpenStreetMap, with location identified from KCC, "Celbridge: Local Area Plan 2017-2023", pg. 65, May 2018.

During Kfm's extensive coverage of St. Patrick's Primary School, Kfm News received the following statement from the Department of Education and Youth in relation to timelines of the deliverance of its new campus:

"The brief for St Patrick's includes the provision of 24 mainstream classrooms and 4 Special Educational Needs classrooms. 

"The project is currently at Stage 2a of the architectural design process. Stage 2a (the developed design stage) involves the Design Team developing the designs, fully cost planning the campus project and preparing the necessary documentation to facilitate the lodging for statutory approval to Kildare County Council as part of the Stage 2b process."