There'll be sighs of relief all round at Colaiste de hIde, Mountain Park, Old Bawn Rd, Tallaght, Co Dublin, when the VEC school finally gets the green light to build a new school on a site attached to Tymon Park. The school, which is the first allIrish, second-level school to be established in Tallaght, has been occupying prefabricated buildings owned by Cumann Ghaelach Tamhlachta for the past four years.

However, Colaiste de hIde, which has an enrolment of 196, is bursting at the seams - two of its classes have been forced to move to another school 15 minutes walk away.

The school is fed by three all-Irish primary schools in the area. If its planning application, just lodged, succeeds, Colaiste de hIde hopes to build a 600-pupil school which will be available to its current students by next year.