Our children need better facilities now 2005-04-02

The school has been in temporary accommodation in a football club in Santry for the last nine years. At this stage there are 230 pupils crammed into tiny partitioned rooms. The ventilation is poor which results in the children often becoming ill and illnesses spreading very quickly. It is impossible for two adults to walk past each other in the very narrow corridors without bumping into one another. These passageways constitute a fire hazard and it doesn't bear thinking about what the consequences would be in the event of a fire and what is the possibility of evacuating all children safely. There are inadequate toilet facilities to meet their needs. Their playground is a carpark. There is no drinking water available and no hot water. There is also no security as anybody can gain access from the street. Adults take showers during school time. But then, this is a football club, not a school building. We should have a proper, purpose built school for our children.

There are excellent teachers at Gaelscoil Cholmcille who run a great school against the odds. The prinicpal's office is also used as a staff canteen, for storage and as a library. Many library books cannot be used as there is nowhere to display them and they remain in boxes. Computers are stacked in corners.

The word "intolerable" is used on fifteen occasions to describe the health and safety conditions in this primary school which our young children attend every day. Despite the fact that this report was presented to Mary Hanafin nothing has been done. The overcrowding will worsen next September when a class of 16 children will leave the school and 32 new junior infants will start their schooling in a football club. There is simply nowhere to put them.

This is the situation in a wealthy European country in 2005. It would seem that the education of young children in a safe environment is bottom of the priority list of this government.

We would be very grateful if people would support us in our campaign by sending a postcard on our behalf to the Minister of Education.

Please contact Gaelscoil Cholmcille, telephone 8571541 for further information.

Mairéad Carew

Gaelscoil Cholmcille Action Group