Cork schools chosen to get traffic warden by 'pulling names out of a hat'

Councillors call for increased funding as less than half the schools in the city have a warden

Of the 118 schools within the city's administrative area, 48 have a school warden. All of these are primary schools. File picture: RollingNews.ie

There have been calls to overhaul the system for appointing traffic wardens to Cork City schools after it emerged two schools were chosen by drawing names out of a hat.

Councillors say the system highlights the need for additional funding to employ more wardens as less than half the schools in the city have one.

If follows city council approval of the appointments to Gaelscoil Pheig Sayers and to Scoil Ursula/Ursuline Primary School from September. The two schools were chosen following a detailed selection and qualification process which led to a shortlist of five, from which the names of the two successful were drawn out of a hat.

But Green Party councillor Dan Boyle questioned one of the qualification criteria which excluded schools with pelican or controlled crossing points from consideration.

Mr Boyle, who last year secured council backing for a €20,000 increase in the council’s 2023 school warden budget to fund these two new roles, said the qualification criteria should be reviewed.

“It should be decided on traffic volume and the danger that exists in a particular area,” he said.

“We have a contradiction whereby several wardens already operate the scheme at schools where there are controlled and pelican crossings.” 

Of the 118 schools within the city's administrative area, 48 have a school warden. All of these are primary schools, and one has a deaf facility.

Extra funding

As part of the preparation for the 2023 budget last year, councillors provided extra funding to employ two new school wardens for the start of the 2023/2024 school term.

They agreed to put in place “an impartial and evidence-based approach” to select the schools and the process was overseen by a subgroup of the council’s roads and transportation strategic policy committee.

They were presented with a report in May which said the 48 primary schools with a school warden, and the city's 32 secondary schools, were not considered because it was deemed “primary school children require more assistance to cross the road when unaccompanied and therefore have a greater need”.

A number of other schools were ruled out and 26 primary schools — 12 on the northside and 14 on the southside — went forward to the next stage for consideration.

The subgroup asked for this list to be refined to only include schools with 101 students or more and exclude schools with existing pedestrian crossing, controlled or with beacons in place.

A shortlist of five — one in each of the city’s five wards — was selected. They were Gaelscoil Pheig Sayers, New Inn NS, Scoil Mhuire, Ballincollig, Gaelscoil an Teaghlaigh Naofa on Tory Top Road, and Ursuline Primary School in Blackrock. The two successful school names were then drawn out of hat.

Fine Gael councillor Shane O'Callaghan welcomed the allocation but said more funding was needed to make more appointments.