MORE THAN 600 people, including parents, teachers and pupils, have taken to the streets of Midleton, Co Cork, to voice their concerns about the welfare of hundreds of students at a local primary school. These students attend classes in prefabs and an uninsulated community centre.
Gaelscoil Mhainistir na Corann opened in 1999 with just 17 pupils in a building which was originally intended to be a community centre. Since then the school has grown to 389 pupils who are catered for in the original building and prefabricated classrooms.
Principal Mairéad Uí Fhloinn said the school had liaised with the landlord to develop every piece of available space on the site. However, it was “bursting at the seams” with the situation at “crisis point”.
“Pupils are in prefabs that are too cold in winter and too hot in the summer. We share a staff room with the community centre.”
She said €160,000 a year was spent on rent, describing that as scandalous. “A principal’s job is to lead teaching and learning and it is hard to do that when you are dealing with the day-to-day problems of a rented building.”
Ms Uí Fhloinn said the Department of Education had informed the school that it was expected to accommodate another 300 pupils in the coming years.
Last winter the prefabs often went without a reliable water supply because of issues relating to the freezing conditions.
Mother-of-three Aoife Ryan said teachers and parents felt they were “banging their head off a brick wall” as they attempted to highlight their plight.
“It is an incredible school and the teachers are fantastic. It is a huge credit to them that the school has grown so much but they cannot go on like this. The teachers, the kids and the school deserve better.”
A department spokeswoman said it was considering a number of options in Midleton including the provision of a new school building. One of these options involves a site in Ballinacurra for which planning permission was received for a school in June. However, this was appealed to An Bórd Pleanála and the outcome is awaited.
Once a suitable site had been acquired, she added, the advancement of a building project would be considered in the context of the department’s multi-annual school building and modernisation programme.