Teachers, parents and children have been waiting on a new facility for years.
The Education Minister says she expects development to start on a new Laois special school in the second quarter of the year.
Enabling works were completed on the site of the new Kolbe Special School building in Portlaoise earlier this month.
The school caters for 43 children within the severe to profound learning disability spectrum, and its new build has faced a number of delays spanning decades.
Orlaith Kerrigan is a parent at Kolbe - she says they want a date: