‘Shovel-ready’ school shelved

‘Shovel-ready’ Westport school shelved


Scoil PhΡdraig plan to continue lobbying for new school promised in 2006

Neill O’Neill

WESTPORT’S biggest school, Scoil PhΡdraig, will not be redeveloped in the near future, according to an official correspondence from Education Minister, Ruairí Quinn.
The news comes as a blow to students, parents, teachers and staff, who for several years believed the green light for the new 16-classroom building to commence construction was imminent.
The architectural designs for the school have been drawn up, a site on the Newport Road has been secured and full planning permission has been approved.
The school’s new steering committee has vowed to continue to fight for the new building and says a very strong case can and will be made for the school.

Growing numbers
Scoil PhΡdraig, currently on Altamont Street, has 320 students spread across eight classrooms and two prefabs. When the old Convent of Mercy girls national school (the building Scoil PhΡdraig currently occupies) and the Christian Brothers boys school amalgamated in 2006, it was promised a new school building within three years.
The amalgamation  increased the numbers attending the school, without ever seeing significant investment for expanding the school building or improving facilities. They did receive two new prefabs at the time to deal with the surge in student numbers, and more prefabs are planned.
The non-appearance of the school on the Department’s building list first came to public attention last month when the matter arose at a meeting of Westport Town Council. The news was met with dismay by all stakeholders, and clarification from the Department of Education was sought.

Ministerial explanation
Despite the school being badly needed, plans being at an advanced stage and construction being ready to start, Minister Quinn has now confirmed that his department will not be giving the project the go ahead.
According to the Scoil PhΡdraig Steering Committee, the plans for the new Scoil PhΡdraig are more advanced than other schools currently on the Department’s Five-Year Building Programme 2012-17.
The steering committee’s chairperson, Sharon Brady, a teacher at Scoil PhΡdraig, told The Mayo News that up to 60 percent of the 70 schools on the building list that are due to commence in 2014 do not even have planning permission.
“We are shovel-ready but are the only school in Ireland so advanced in our plans to still be on the architectural list,” Ms Brady said.
The Minister for Education cites demographics as a reason for not including Scoil PhΡdriag on the building list. “The major building project at Scoil PhΡdraig, Westport, Co Mayo, is currently at an advanced stage of architectural planning. The Stage 2(b) submission (detailed design) has been approved by my Department, however, as the project was not included in my Department’s Five Year Building Programme, the project was not authorised to proceed to tender.
“Due to competing demands on the Department’s capital budget, imposed by the need to prioritise the limited funding available for the provision of additional school accommodation to meet increasing demographic requirements, it was not possible to include this project in the five year construction programme.”
Minister Quinn also declined to meet a delegation from Westport Town Council that wanted to travel to Dublin to make direct representations to him, saying: “I am not in a position to meet you due to diary constraints.”

Growing numbers
Sharon Brady said that there needs to be more than one criterion for deciding which projects get onto the building list. She added that Scoil PhΡdraig has strong and growing student numbers. The only thing currently preventing the commencement of the new school is funding from the Department, she said.
“We have made representations to the Minister, to the Taoiseach and to Minister Ring, and we know Minister Ring is due to speak with Minister Quinn on this issue. Minister Ring has taken a keen interest and we are very grateful to him for that and know he is working hard on our behalf. We remain determined and optimistic for a good outcome on this,” Ms Brady said.
Minister Quinn adds in his letter that schools which were announced for initial inclusion in the building programme will continue to be progressed to final planning stages in anticipation of the possibility of funds becoming available to the Department in future years.
“The building project at Scoil PhΡdraig remains available to be considered for progression in that context,” he said.

Council reaction
Local town councillor, Brendan Mulroy, contacted The Mayo News after receiving the letter and said the council is dismayed by the Minister’s refusal to meet them, something he said the local authority had not experienced before from an education minister.
“We have a town council meeting this week, and Scoil PhΡdraig will be on the agenda. We have to decide our next course of action, but time is fast running out for us. I am hearing [about Scoil PhΡdraig] on the doorsteps from parents and grandparents, and they are angry about this issue,” he said.