All-Irish teacher training centre in limbo
The centre was first touted by Micheál Martin in 1999 as a support service for all teachers on the teaching of Irish and for those working in Gaelscoils and Gaeltacht schools.
Almost €400,000 has already been spent by the Department of Education on the initial planning and design stages of the project, which was due to commence in Ballyvourney the following June.
But funding and other problems have held it up and Ms Hanafin is now considering whether the project should go ahead at all.
She has said that much of the proposed work of the centre has been taken up by the Comhairle um Oideachais Gaeltachta agus Gaelscolaíochta (COGG) set up under the 1998 Education Act. She has also highlighted the new policy of providing regional in-service training for teachers, rather than a centralised training centre as envisaged for Ballyvourney.
Officials from her department and the Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs met with representatives of COGG and other interested parties in June and Ms Hanafin is considering their views before making a final decision.
The minister has previously denied suggestions that she is considering having the centre built at a different location, possibly in her own constituency. She said last April that if the centre is to be built at all, it will be in Ballyvourney.
A Department of Education spokesperson said last night that no decision has yet been reached but that it is expected very shortly.
The minister has been urged publicly by teacher unions, Gaelscoileanna organisations, opposition parties and local public representatives in Co Cork over the past year to push ahead with the original plans.
Following Mr Martin’s announcement of Government approval for the centre in December 1999, his successor Michael Woods turned the sod on the site at a former VEC school in Ballyvourney.
The next minister, Noel Dempsey, added the project to the Department of Education’s building programme in late 2003 but excessive tender prices were blamed for the project later being shelved.
