Hanafin: Plans for 30 schools by September

PLANS to build and open 30 primary schools in Dublin and other areas of rapid population growth by September were announced by Education Minister Mary Hanafin yesterday.

They include 12 schools in Dublin city and county, and eight in neighbouring counties Meath, Kildare and Wicklow. Most are new schools for which Department of Education recognition has already been granted, although two are in areas where prospective patrons are awaiting approval.

Ms Hanafin said she is hopeful they would be ready to open for their first intake of pupils in September, with sites already identified and planning permission lodged or about to be submitted in all cases.

The fast-track building policy is a direct response to the problems experienced in recent years and particularly last autumn, by families recently arrived in areas where there was no room in existing primary schools for the increased demand.

While she accepts the plans to have new schools ready by September are ambitious, many are already being assembled off-site, ready to be put in place when planning is granted. The minister has already received assurances from local authorities in Dublin, Kildare, Meath, Westmeath and Carlow that they will help streamline the planning process for urgently needed new schools.

“We hope local communities, who are entitled to object at the planning stage, will see the importance of these schools for their areas,” Ms Hanafin said.

Among those to open next September will be two primary schools under the patronage of Co Dublin Vocational Education Committee (VEC) in Phoenix Park and Phibblestown in west Dublin. They will form a pilot project for a new model of community national schools, which are expected to be opened in the coming years in response to demand for non-denominational primary education.

This new system of State-owned primary schools is likely to be expanded in the next few years but much of the detail will be based on the experience in the two pilot schools. The focus of this year’s e600 million school building budget is on these new schools and improved facilities for schools in areas experiencing the heaviest growth in demand for extra children.

Ms Hanafin also announced 15 primary and three second-level schools where construction of new buildings or extensions will begin this year or next year. A further 254 projects are set to begin construction this year, and the minister plans to announce further building starts in late March or early April.

The Irish National Teachers’ Organisation (INTO) said the announcement was extremely disappointing for dozens of schools waiting for years to progress badly-needed building work.

“There is no mention of Kilfinnane NS in Limerick, Gaelscoil Barra in Dublin, Rahan NS in Cork or Gaelscoil Chluain Meala in Tipperary, to name just four. The minister should publish a full list of school projects in the building programme and indicative times for completion,” said INTO general secretary John Carr.