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PARENTS OF A Dublin primary school are looking for answers ahead of the end of this current year and a move to another temporary site.
Ballinteer Educate Together National School has been operating out of classrooms in St Tiernan’s Secondary School in Balally but its rapid expansion has meant it must now move.
At present there are nine classes from junior infants to third class comprising about 230 children.
A parents’ group has said the current facilities are inadequate with resource teachers forced to work in the lobby and caretaker equipment being stored in toilets.
Amanda Bailey, head of the PTA and parent of a child at the school, says the size of the classrooms at the current site are too small, but too many questions remain about the new plan.
It’s really not fair on our children to be treated like this, they’re in tiny classrooms. One, with 27 children in 34 sq metres, is even nicknamed ‘the headache room’ because it gets so stuffy
“We knew we were moving and we were happy to get out of the 34 sq metre classrooms,” she told TheJournal.ie.
The new building has 80 sq metre classrooms so we were happy to get more space and we thought it was positive, but we don’t know what way they are dividing up the space.
The school is to grow next year with two extra classes, making 11 in total.
Plans have been previously submitted for the construction of a permanent school building beside St Tiernan’s but these plans were rejected due to access concerns.
Updated plans were also submitted but were also refused and there have been suggestions that lands could be purchased by the Department of Education to help with access to the site.
The problems have meant that the permanent plans have stalled with the school now moving to another temporary site at Notre Dame in Churchtown.
That school campus will be shared with a secondary school and parents have expressed concerns about space at the new school.
The parents’ group says the principal of Ballinteer Educate Together National School has yet to even examine the new facility. Instead, parents are waiting on an assessment of the new site to be carried out by the department.
https://www.facebook.com/BallinteerETNS/videos/1483943528293391/
Parents will be holding a demonstration at the Dáil next Tuesday in an attempt to put pressure on the department to find a solution. The main issue they want addressed is to be given a timetable for the construction of the permanent school next to St Tiernan’s.
A number of politicians have been acting on behalf of the parents and, in response to a question from Senator Neale Richmond, Education Minister Richard Bruton said the school is a “high priority” for the department.
The minister said the Notre Dame site was purchased by the department and a technical assessment is currently being carried out with regards to how best to accommodate Ballinteer Educate Together.
Bruton added that there is “no doubt” that a new planning application would be submitted to allow for the construction of the permanent school building:
I can assure the Senator, from our point of view, that this is a high priority. We want to facilitate this successful school. We want to complete these processes as quickly as possible but we have to do them in a way that meets the requirements and expectations of pupils for the long term, and that is a very important consideration.
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Isn’t a well known public figure who abused for years getting their sentence reduced down to 2 years for “good character and behaviour” (insert Judge feel good lingo here)
It needs to be said, we do not punish abusers in Ireland, there is no deterrence. It needs to change.
Also a conversation on consent needs to be amped up further in schools. Things need to change.
@TheFreeSpeechParty: well said. Rape should mean a life sentence.
@TheFreeSpeechParty: I agree , well said. Respect and consent , and relationships in general should be discussed in schools
@James Wormold: Chemical castration would be a more economic and effective option.
@Carla Killeen: raping women would be anathema to the vast majority of men with a high sex drive. Rape is about much more than male hormones and sex, it’s about control and violating another person. Chemical castration might reduce recidivism rates but there is no evidence to suggest it acts as a deterrent in the first place. Teaching children about respect, body autonomy and consent from a young age might prevent some from ever thinking it’s okay to violate another person.
You won’t see Leo tackling this problem, you won’t see any kind of judicial reform regards to sentences. I am convinced the judges always try to side with the perpetrator, if you have a good character, if you plead guilty, if you have a job. Anything at all that can be used to reduce a sentence the judge will try his best, oh he was cooperative, that’s another few months off. Then of course in the case of a rape, the judge doesn’t sentence for each crime committed within the rape, the violence, the threats etc it is all bundled into one and the mandatory suspension part of the sentence.
And yet in the other news report today we have people insisting abortion services are a “lifestyle choice” and not required in Ireland.
The perpetrators get full benefit of certain circumstances while the victim gets violated over and over .. Throw away the keys .
In a society where the media and entertainment industry place heavy emphasis on sexual consumption and instant gratification as elements of the Good Life, it is not surprising that predatory men see women and girls as objects of their desires.
@Garreth Byrne: so rape didn’t exist before TV?
@EillieEs: Rape is as old as the hills. The sex saturation of the media and mass entertainment tends to emphasise eros rather than conjugal love as a key element of the Good Life. Women’s bodies are graphically projected more than their minds and personal qualities. As sex objects they are targeted for male gratification.
If you use a gun as a weapon it’s taken from you…….chemical castration
@John O Reilly: Agreed, it would be the best deterrent.
@John O Reilly: how to stop that person ever using it as a weapon in the first place?
@EillieEs: nothing….some people are animals
How can you be a good person if you rape someone should get life imprisonment
@Margaret Kane: This question needs to be asked, this is a really good question that should be put to judges.
If 34.3% of the enquiries to the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre are from other parts of the country is this a funding issue?
It’s not really a great place at all, especially if the privileged have hurt you. Pigs and sheep, people, pigs and sheep.
have your say