Greystones parents march to demand action on shortage of school places
WICKLOW TD Jennifer Whitmore joined parents of students from Greystones’ 4th, 5th and 6th classes on a demonstration walk on Friday, February 23, in response to the ongoing shortage of secondary school places and the urgent need to build the permanent building for Greystones Community College (GCC). The walk was organised by GCC’s Parent Leadership group.
“Secondary school place shortages have been an issue in Greystones for years,” Deputy Whitmore commented.
“To meet this demand, the Department of Education promised a much-needed school build for Greystones Community College, and extensions for Templecarriag and Colaiste Chraobh Abhann in Kilcoole. Unfortunately, progress to date on these projects has been far too slow and is creating huge shortages in school places. This issue came to a head last October, when I alerted the Department of a school place shortage of over 70 places in the area. Since then, my office has been hearing from families all over Greystones and Kilcoole whose children have yet to be offered a place in any school.
“Whilst this has been alleviated to some degree by the provision of two additional classrooms in GCC, there are still approximately 30 students without a place for this coming September.
“I commend the GCC parent leadership team for organising this impactful event today. The delays in building GCC’s permanent building have left the school community grappling with the pitfalls of temporary accommodation.
“I am always so impressed with the dedication of the Parents Association, staff, students, and principal Ruairí Farrell in
GCC. Most recently, they agreed to take on two extra classes to help alleviate the school place shortage and this intervention was incredibly welcome. However, this offer from GCC must be met with a commitment from the Department to urgently build their permanent school, so that it is in place for the 25/26 school year. Nothing less is acceptable.
“The demand on school places is not going away. And it should not be up to parents to continually have to fight for a school seat for their children. The Department’s job is to forward plan for the provision of education. Clearly, this has not happened to date.
“I will continue to work closely with parents and staff to ensure that those students without a place for September get one and that the building projects for Greystones are the top priority for the Department of Education,” she concluded.