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BERTIE’S CÚPLA FECK OFF
Read more about: Dublin North Central, Education, Fianna Fail, Irish Election 
I happened to be walking by Bertie’s constituency office in Drumcondra this morning, when I came across a protest by the parents and teachers of Gaelscoil Cholmcille. I asked them what it was about, and this is what they told me – below the fold.
The parents are extremely frustrated with the government and the Department of Education as a result of yet another failed attempt to provide them with a decent school building, despite having to operate out of an entirely unsuitable football club for the past ten years.
Even the basic necessity of clean drinking water is not available to teachers and pupils in their current location. To highlight this situation, a bottle of contaminated, undrinkable water, will be presented to the Taoiseach today, they said.
The latest failure concerns plans by the Department of Education to amalgamate a local school and accommodate Gaelscoil Cholmcille in one of the vacated buildings.
Having wasted endless time and energy and several years’ worth of taxpayers money, involved in spectacularly inept and incompetent negotiations, the department, without consultation with the Board, Chairperson or Principal of Gaelscoil Cholmcille, have recently stated that the amalgamation has fallen through. So now they have produced, like a rabbit from a hat, a clumsy, ill-thought out “solution” which entails “temporary accommodation” on the Brenfer site, off Oscar Traynor Road.
“Parents, many of whom are members of Gaelscoil Cholmcille Action Group, are around long enough to know that temporary accommodation will become permanent accommodation which could last another eleven years”, they argued, “just as our current “temporary accommodation” has done”.
Gaelscoil Cholmcille Action Group see this sleight of hand by the Department as a cynical election ploy, hurriedly cobbled together because of the pressure that parents are applying on local politicians in the run-up to the general election.
“Having received so many broken promises, how can we believe anything anymore?” they said.
“This protest is part of our “no school – no vote” campaign, whereby we will be informing government politicians on the school catchment areas (three constituencies) that they will not be getting our vote unless we are given cast-iron guarantees that we will be in a new school by September 2007.”
I took the photos of the protest above this morning outside Bertie’s office in Drumcondra.
Was he hiding over in Fagans ?
Ben, I completely support the parents in their efforts to secure permanent facilities appropriate to their needs. One thing I would advise them though is not to be played for suckers like they were in 2002 (when Michael Woods committed the department of education to purchasing a site off Coolock Lane, only for that to never happen) and again in 2004 when they staged a very effective protest at the location where they were supposed to get their site only for Royston Brady to turn up with a hard hat, get to pose with the parents and the children for the TV cameras that were there, and get all the media attention while other local TDs (Roisin Shortall Richard Bruton) and local election candidates (Larry O’Toole, Sinead Seery and myself) were left standing by.
You should email this to a few news outlets and see will they run with it.
bertie had promised us a new school for 10 years and after ten years we have got it u should see the size of the classrooms the new ones will be twice the size
too late i know,but the building of the new school will be overlooking the bedrooms and bathrooms of senior citizens just a few feet from their back gardens.
this unsightly structure will now block their view of the sunset,steal the daylight and replace it with an eyesore.
maybe when the school opens the first word they should be taught is:SLEEVEEN:,with reference to the board and trustees and their agents,
who were responsible for hiding the planning application in the corner of a carpark belonging to a private business, knowing that no senior citzen would ever see it,
SHAME ON YOU!