Concern about new campus plan for primary schools

The Gaelscoileanna all-Irish schools body has expressed reservations about a plan being developed by the Department of Education under which new primary schools of different denominations and ethoses would share facilities on the one campus.

Ms Jacqueline Ni Fhearghusa, executive of Gaelscoileanna, said it was difficult enough to motivate children whose language was English to speak Irish, but it would be really hard to do so in a situation where they would be sharing facilities with children who were not speaking Irish.

She said Gaelscoileanna had not been approached formally about the matter by the Department, but it had been mooted in a report from the Commission on School Accommodation last year.

She was surprised, however, to hear that senior Department officials had been to the Netherlands and Austria to observe how campus schools operated. She said she could see the merits of a shared campus where different religious and Christian denominations were concerned, but she believed that where language was involved, it was a different matter entirely. She pointed out that there were already schools in Dublin where buildings and playgrounds were shared between Gaelscoileanna and regular primary schools, but they were divided and the children attending the different schools did not have contact during school hours.

Sister Eileen Randles, general secretary of the Catholic Primary School Managers' Association, said the idea was at such an early stage that she could not comment on it. As yet, the Department of Education had made no proposals on the matter nor had it entered into formal discussions on it, she said.

The plan being considered by the Department of Education would involve schools sharing play areas, gymnasiums, car-parks, special classrooms, canteens and other facilities. Pupils would, however, be taught separately. Campuses would cater for between 270 and 300 pupils and cover a five- to seven-acre site.

At the moment, separate sites have to be found for schools - denominational, multi-denominational, and Gaelscoil.

In January 1999, the Department took over responsibility for buying new primary school sites. Previously, each denomination or group bought its own land and then sought State recognition.

It is proposed the campus idea would apply only to new primary schools. At the moment there are about 60 applications for such schools with the Department, mainly in Kildare, Meath and Wicklow. Sites in these areas have become extremely expensive, costing up to £2 million for three acres. It is understood it was this factor which prompted Department officials to explore the campus idea.

Of the 3,120 primary schools in the State, about 200 are Gaelscoileanna and 60 are multi-denominational. The great majority of the remainder are under Catholic management.