PUPILS from Gaelscoil Bharra in Cabra held a symbolic
protest outside the gates of the Department of Education earlier this month to
highlight conditions at their rundown, vermin-infested school.
The young learners brought along 17 St Brigit’s
crosses for their protest, one for every year they and their teachers have been
schooled in
‘temporary’ prefabs.
Protest posters showing an upmarket primary school on
Ailesbury Road contrasted with pictures of the cold and damp conditions the
Northside children endure in their prefabs at Fassaugh Avenue.
A samba band accompanied pupils and their parents at
the gates of the department and chairperson for the parent-led Committee for a
Permanent School, Mossie Byrne, explained why the protest was continuing.
“We met with officials from the Department of
Education in August 2011,
? he said.
“They showed us plans for a permanent school building.
We thought at last after 17 years in
‘temporary’ prefabs we would finally get
what our children and their teachers deserve.
“The officials indicated that they would be in touch
before Christmas. We still haven’t heard anything. It’s so frustrating to see
the substandard conditions our children are being taught in, to know that there
is a Government commitment to a school buildings programme and yet we are
getting no answers on when Gaelscoil Bharra will get a permanent school.
“We are calling on the Minister to meet with the
school and that he commits to providing the necessary funding and outlines the
timescale for a permanent school.
?
Cathy Smyth, parent of two children in the school and
one in the pre-school, said it was difficult to explain to pupils why they were
being taught in prefabs.
“My children don’t understand why the Government is
giving billions to bail out bond holders while they are investing nothing in
building them a school,
? she said.
“I can’t explain it to them. Maybe the
Minister can.
?
As far back as 2000 an inspector from the Department
of Education recommended that planning permission for a permanent school for
Gaelscoil Bharra should be initiated due to the
“deplorable state of the
temporary accommodation
?.
But 12 years on pupils and teachers still endure the
same conditions with no confirmation of when a permanent school will be built.
The Department of Education has said that a new school
building would be
“considered
? as part of a five-year plan of school projects
to be announced this year.
“The Department is currently in the process of
acquiring the site for the proposed building project for Gaelscoil Bharra,
? a
spokesperson said.
“An application for planning permission will form part
of the site acquisition process.
“A draft design was discussed with the school
authority in August and the design is currently being revised in light of those
discussions.
“The Department will be publishing a detailed plan on
an annual basis in relation to planned expenditure on individual school major
projects.
“The first of these in relation to projects planned to
go to construction in 2012 was announced by the Minister in December.
“Early this year the Department will publish an
outlined five-year plan on the projects to be constructed in that time. The
proposed building project for Gaelscoil Bharra will be considered in that
context.
?