This article is from page 18 of the 2008-02-26 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 18 JPG
THE Department of Education has dashed the hopes of over 250 fami- lies around Ennis this week by re- fusing to confirm whether Barefield National School has been given the approval to begin work on its long- awaited extension.
The school first put in a bid for funding in 2000 and for the past eight years both management and local families, under the guidance of the Building for the Future com- mittee, initiated fundraising events
which helped raise €31,500 – the re- quired local contribution.
In 2002, John Carr, the General Secretary of the Irish National Teachers Organisation agreed that the “school accommodation was se- riously substandard”’.
The department agreed to the ex- tension. Almost €250,000 has al- ready been spent planning the build- ing, which would include eight class rooms, a library, a general purpose room, five special education rooms, improved heating system, staff fa- cilities and playground.
When Minister Mary MHanafin made her selection in 2005, Barefield topped the list of approved primary schools. The Minister stated that “These projects have been identi- fied as priority projects in areas where demand for school places are increasing or current facilities are deemed inadequate to cater for exist- ing needs.”
“It is vitally important that children and teaching staff in our schools have facilities which are suitable to their growing needs,” she said.
But according to the Barefield
Parent’s Council, with some classes housing up to 36 pupils, the needs of their children are not being met – and they will do everything in their power to ensure that the munister does not renege on her intention of including their school in the 2008 School Building Programme to be announced at Easter.
“The school cannot cope in its present form. We have done the plan- ning; the project should be funded as agreed,” said Maeve O’Regan, chair- person of the council.
Timmy Dooley TD (FF) visited the
school yesterday and agreed that re- development should get underway as soon as possible.
‘The current site at Barefield is ab- solutely inadequate for its needs and I will be putting a strong case forward to the department to try to expedite the development process,” he said.
Minister Tony Killeen has also vowed to lend his voice to the cam- Oe ea ne
“T will bring these concerns to the education minister and try to ensure that the project gets included in the Easter announcement,” he said.