Calls to scrap “stupid” Belmayne school plan

All five TDs from Dublin Bay North have put pressure on the government to solve the issues at Belmayne Educate Together Secondary School.

On Wednesday (April 2), the five TDs raised the issue in the Dáil in an attempt to ease pressure on the school.

At present, the school is under orders from the Department of Education to house students with additional educational needs at the school and make them share resources with other students.

In March, Northside People reported that “temporary” prefabs were to be placed on the school grounds, meaning that existing students would lose access to pitches, a running track and an autism-friendly sensory garden.

Fine Gael TD Naoise Ó Muirí said, “I do not want to pit one school against another; this is about finding a compromise solution so that the special school gets under way as soon as possible and the secondary school can plan for its facilities as its enrolment numbers continue to grow.”

From the opposition ranks, Social Democrats TD Cian O’Callaghan said the plan “makes absolutely no sense at all.”

“A much-needed special school in Belmayne is put in prefabs, next door to brand-new classrooms that are not yet in use and were specifically designed for students with additional needs.”

“Why should children with additional needs be accommodated in prefabs in substandard conditions when a much better option is available? There is a site available in the local area for a permanent special school,” he noted.

“It is important that this building is prioritised and that, in the meantime, the school is accommodated temporarily in the new classrooms in Belmayne Educate Together.”

Sinn Féin TD Denise Mitchell said that a special school was needed in the area, and that her constituency colleagues have been contacted by local parents about the lack of appropriate school places.

“The compromise solution put forward by Belmayne Educate Together, which will see a special school housed temporarily in its permanent building, makes sense; nobody wants to see a special school going into prefabs.”

“This school can house this special school temporarily in a permanent building while it awaits its new build. We need an explanation as to why this compromise, which is very fair, has been rejected by the Department.”

The five TDs spoke on World Autism Day, and Fianna Fáil TD Tom Brabazon said, “I certainly do not want to be seen to be pitting one group of children against another.”

He said that plans by the Department of Education to put the special school in prefabs are “unacceptable.”

“The use of prefabs as we have seen down the road in Gaelcholáiste Reachrainn, which were provided as a temporary solution but have become a 24-year permanent solution, is certainly not good enough for children with special needs,” he remarked.

As a March article from Northside People noted, “temporary” in the context of Irish politics almost always turns into “permanent”.

Brabazon called the Department of Education’s plans “stupid” and said that the idea “needs to be knocked on the head immediately.”

“We need to get these children moved into the school building with the Belmayne Educate Together, which is happy to welcome them to its building.

Independent TD Barry Heneghan said that another special school was needed for Dublin Bay North.

A recent information evening at the school was attended by all five TDs, and he said there is a clear united political effort on the issue. 

He said the solution put forward by the school was better than the Department of Education prefab plan.

“I urge the Department to please go with what the people of the area and all the elected TDs are asking.”

Minister of State at the Department of Education Michael Moynihan said that €2.9 billion is being spent on special education by the Department of Education in 2025 and added that four new special schools would be built nationwide along with upgrades being made to 11 others.

In the context of Belmayne, he said that the school was the only school in the North Dublin area to meet the demand for additional school places for the 2025-26 academic year.

He said that the school will be required to “substantially” grow enrolments in the coming years to meet the requirements for special school places, which he said reflects the “importance” of using modular accommodation for a special school to utilise the existing school facilities.

The Fianna Fáil TD acknowledged that there was cross-party consensus on the issue, and that the Department of Education was actively engaging with the school.

He said that there would be “significant” technical issues involved with repurposing the existing school to meet the needs of the special school and that it would have an effect on mainstream enrolments.

Moynihan’s party colleague Brabazon said, “I feel a visit to the school would open his eyes to the potential there for the solution that has been proposed by those on the ground”

He noted, “in 2004, Dublin City Council, in developing Belmayne and Clongriffin, set up what was called the North Fringe Forum. The Department was invited to engage with the forum and was told at that stage that there was going to be a crisis in respect of school places; it did nothing.”

“Those in the Department put their heads in the sand and denied that there would be a problem. Twenty years on, they objected to planning for residential housing. There lies the problem. We need to root out the problem in the Department.

Ó Muirí agreed with Brabazon, saying there is a need to think “long-term” about this issue.

He said that parents need certainty and called on Moynihan to commit to a timeframe for the issue being solved. 

O’Callaghan said, “I have been in those prefabs; a huge amount of expenditure and repurposing would be required, and even then they would still not up to the standard of the permanent classrooms.”

“I again ask the Minister of State to reconsider the position. It does not make sense to put children in prefabs when there is better accommodation available.”

Mitchell said the “lessons” from nearby Gaelchólaiste Reachrann were clear to see – “children have been in prefabs for 24 years on the grounds of another school, and nobody wants to see that repeated.”

Heneghan remarked, “there is a prefab pandemic in Dublin Bay North, as those involved with running Gaelchólaiste Reachrann have noted. People have seen how it is never a temporary solution.”

He invited Moynihan to visit the school, saying a visit would “change his mind.”