Seanad hears of Ballinasloe school's 'unacceptable' 25-year wait for new building

Local Senator Aisling Dolan said it's "unacceptable" that a primary school in Ballinasloe has been waiting for its new school building for more than a quarter of a century.

In the Seanad yesterday (Monday), the Fine Gael representative highlighted the Government's failure to deliver a new primary school for the pupils and staff at Scoil an Chroí Naofa on Society Street.

Addressing Minister of State Josepha Madigan, she said pupils and teachers at the school were currently "freezing" in a decades-old building.

"How is this fit for purpose?" asked Senator Dolan, adding that five boards of management and five principals in the school over the last 25 years had been unable to "get the project across the line."

Planning permission was issued to the school in 2011, extended in 2016, and is due to expire in November 2021.

Senator Dolan said that, in 2016, the Department of Education provided a letter outlining that the school was ready to go for ‘final planning approval’, yet nearly six years on, there is no new school building.

"Who is accountable for these delays? We need action for close to 300 children at this school, and the children who are at school now will not see a new school building. The children in the ASD Unit will be waiting another four years, even if we move this to Stage 3 without any delay," she said.

Minister Madigan said that the Department was awaiting a 'Stage 2B' report from the school authorities, that the project could not be progressed without this, and that a new planning permission extension may be required.

"It does seem an extraordinary amount of time, but there is collaboration," said Minister Madigan, who added that she would bring the project to the attention of Education Minister Norma Foley.

You can watch the exchange in the Seanad here: