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Fury over conditions at ‘cramped’ school

Wednesday, 16 April 2008

A DEPUTY principal in a Dublin 15 school is now using a broom cupboard as an office, Northside People can reveal.
The shocking situation came about after the Government reneged on a promise to provide funding to the cramped school. Additional pupils had been taken in by the school in the expectation that the money would be provided.
St Brigid’s National School is now calling on the Department of Education to follow through on its promise and fund plans for a badly-needed extension and refurbishment.
The Castleknock school claims to have been left in limbo since it was enticed to increase in size with the promise of more resources. According to principal Dennis Courtney, the school is in “dire need” of repair.
“Some of our teachers are in prefabs and our deputy principal’s office is now in a space that was originally a broom cupboard,” he told Northside People.
“We also have serious concerns about the health and safety aspects of our general purpose room which we use for PE and other activities.”

St Brigid’s NS has been located in Beechpark Lawn since 1971. The mixed school has more than 790 pupils and 40 teachers.
“Two years ago, the Department asked our school to move from being a three to a four stream school to facilitate enrolments at the height of the school places crisis,” Mr Courtney explained.
“We took in the extra class of 28 kids with the understanding that we would soon have the funding for an extension
“We’ve done everything we can from our end to progress the development. It is now in the hands of the Department of Education but it seems to be stalled.”
The school had hoped that a planning application would be submitted in May of this year. However, that is now looking very unlikely.
“A few months ago, the Department told us that its technical staff were not available to make a decision on our submission,” Mr Courtney said.
“We really don’t know what that means and where that leaves us. There is a huge sense of disappointment among the staff and parents of the school.”
Local TD Joan Burton (Lab) said the situation was a disgrace.
“This school has suffered long enough as a result of funding cutbacks,” she said.
“It is not acceptable that a promised and necessary extension and refurbishment should be delayed and that a school should be left in limbo like this.”
A spokesperson for the Department of Education said the development was at an “early architectural planning phase”.
“Some mechanical and electrical issues have arisen that require consideration by the Department's technical staff and this matter is in hand,” it was stated.
“The recently established Developing Areas Unit is working on providing educational facilities in rapidly developing areas including Castleknock. In that context, the Department can confirm that the project at the school will be progressed without delay and in the normal manner.”

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