THE sod has finally been turned on the site of a new 32-classroom school at St Mochta’s in Clonsilla after a wait of more than a decade.
The school has needed a new building since 2006 when the Department of Education requested St Mochta’s to expand its enrolment to cater for the growing population in the Dublin 15 area.
Parents say they were led to believe a fast-tracked new school would follow, but it wasn’t until 2015 that the project finally got the go-ahead, much to the delight of everyone connected with the Dublin 15 school.
However, the joy was soured last year when parents learned that the rebuild was being postponed, and the news sparked the formation of St Mochta’s School Build Action Group (BAG), calling for the new school to be constructed.
A number of protests took place, culminating in a march last September when more than 500 children and parents descended on Dáil Éireann in protest over the delay.
The following month, funding was approved by the Department of Education and Skills to proceed to tender and on March 16 last the contract for construction was awarded to Glasgiven Contracts Ltd.
The new building on the site of the current school will house 32 classrooms as well as a cutting edge PE hall and library.
The turning of the sod marks the end of an 11-year wait for parents and staff and the beginning of a new era for St Mochta’s.
“It has been a long and difficult journey for everyone involved in our school,” said Tony Rock, chairperson of the St Mochta’s board of management.
“Last year our entire school community, Board of Management, parents and the children themselves engaged in a direct campaign to Government to make the voice of the school and wider community in Clonsilla heard – ‘no more broken promises, build our school now!’
“Having brought their message to the gates of the Dáil in such a powerful way, the children and parents of our school made us very proud.”
St Mochta’s now faces the challenge of maintaining a school of almost 900 pupils on site during construction, but Rock says that it’s a task the board of management is delighted to be facing.
“We would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge the commitment and hard work of all members of our design team who have for so long worked closely with school management to get to this point of our development,” he added.
“St Mochta’s National School would like to thank everyone involved in our school for their support over the years, and in particular in recent months, helping us to achieve our goal of commencing our new school building and turning our vision into a reality.
“Our journey has shown us how important it is to listen to our children and the power of collective voices. By working together, children, parents, teachers and school management, and with the support of all of our local politicians and wider community, we can achieve great things together.”
It is envisaged that the building programme will take 28 months to complete and the date for final handover of the new school is planned for August 2019.
