Students stage walkout over poor school conditions

Dún Laoghaire has a reputation as being one of the wealthiest places in the country.

Blackrock, Kiliney, and Sandycove conjure up images of posh, affluent areas where money is no object; the reality is very different for students.

Students of the Dún Laoghaire Educate Together National School staged a pre-Christmas walkout on December 17, in protest of the poor conditions at the school.

About 150 pupils walked from the school’s temporary base in Monkstown Grove to the offices of Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council.

The walk was initiated by sixth-class pupils, who have spent their entire primary education in “temporary” accommodation. 

In the context of Irish education, “temporary” means “permanent.”

In February 2025, The Journal reported that the Department of Education spent €86 million on prefabs for schools between 2021 and 2024, with the outlet reporting that €6.3 million was spent on hiring prefabs for 83 separate schools across Dublin.

The class of 2026 will graduate without ever stepping into the permanent school they were promised, and students said they do not want the next generation of students to face the same situation.

Sixth-class students each wrote a personal letter asking for “the gift of a real school building this winter,” and handed the letter to local elected representatives.

In a part of Ireland that is considered affluent, PE classes are held in a public park as there is no hall or yard for students to gather in, staff check the grounds each morning for broken glass, litter or signs of anti-social behaviour, and students eat lunch in poorly heated and ventilated prefabs.

Some classes are taught in rented community-centre rooms that were never designed to be classrooms, and assembly is often held in the school yard, in lieu of a dedicated school hall.

Gillian Hunt, a member of DLETNS Parent Teachers Association, said, “my child graduated last June, having spent 8 years in temporary accommodation in 3 different locations.”

“Our current 6th class will be the second year to do the same.”

She said, “we need action from this government now, and I’m so proud the children want to voice their frustration and hope that there is a better school experience for their younger peers, teachers and staff.”

“We worked so hard to secure the permanent site with the Department of Education in 2019, and yet we’re still waiting for this project to progress. With no updates for the past 12 months, what the community wants is a confirmed start date, for the project to go out for tender and a commitment it won’t get pushed back again”.

Anne Marie Lillis, Principal of Dun Laoghaire Educate Together, said, “we do amazing things in this school despite the lack of a permanent home. The community of pupils, parents and staff are very close, and we’ve built something special here. Despite the accommodation challenges, we have fantastic, dedicated teachers, and the children love it here”

“Imagine how much more we could do if we actually had a real school building,” she said.

The school community is calling on the Department of Education to set a definite construction start date and to outline the next steps clearly.

David MacHale, a parent with two children in the school, said that the students were “a credit to themselves” for organising the protest.

He said that the students weren’t exactly demanding the world, and said what they are fighting for should be the “bare minimum.”

MacHale said that the children weren’t fighting for a new school – they simply want an update about the school from the Department of Education, which has greeted them with radio silence for over a year.

He added that the students are “proud of their school, yet they feel strongly that this delay is impacting the well-being of students and staff.”

The school opened in August 2017 in “temporary” accommodation, with the aim of having students moved into a permanent school building shortly after the school opened.

A site was approved in 2019, on the site of the old Dún Laoghaire fire station, with planning permission granted in February 2022 and finalised in January 2023.

A design team was appointed in September 2023 and was put out to pre-tender in March 2024.

In the last update from the Department of Education to the school, they confirmed that the project was at stage 2B of Ireland’s notoriously labyrinthine and glacially paced planning system.

Stage 2B means that the project is at the “detailed design” and preparation of the tender documentation stage.

Since March 2024, there has been zero communication between the Department and the School. 

2026 will mean that the school has been nine years in temporary accommodation; children who were at the school on the first day of the school’s opening in 2017 will graduate with their entire primary school education being taught in “temporary” accommodation.

MacHale said there is no confirmed timeline for tender proposals or construction dates to begin, meaning that parents know just as much as the students about the situation.

During the time the school has been open and fought for a permanent school building, Ireland has had five Ministers for Education, none of whom have been able to rectify the issue or secure a permanent school building.

Dún Laoghaire is noted as being a Fine Gael stronghold, and four of the last five Ministers for Education have belonged to the party.

Local Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll MacNeill and local Fine Gael TD Barry Ward attended the march on December 17, as did Fianna Fáil councillor Justin Moylan, while councillors from opposition parties such as the Greens (Conor Dowling), Labour (Thomas Joseph) and People Before Profit (Melisa Halpin) which indicates that regardless of party, local politicians are keen to see progress made on the issue.

The Irish Independent reported that the Department of Education has given assurances to the school that they will deliver a new 16-classroom primary school and accommodation, with two classrooms for special educational needs among them.

“The Department will continue to liaise with the school’s patron body in relation to the school’s interim accommodation needs pending delivery of the permanent school building and provide updates on progress and next steps,” the spokesperson told the publication.