Students at five Gaelscoileanna protested outside Leinster House on Wednesday morning calling on Minister for Education Hildegarde Naughton to provide a timeline for the development of a building for an Irish-language post-primary school catering to the Dublin 2, 4, 6 and 8 postal districts.
Some 100 pupils attended the protest, carrying placards which said “Anois an tAm, Gaelcholáiste 2,4,6,8”, and “Cá bhfuil an plean?“.
Cristín Ní Chairealláin, principal of Gaelscoil Eoin, said she was “very concerned that the Department of Education is putting the Gaelcholáiste at risk because there is still no master plan, timeline and virtual images for the physical development of the building”.
The campaign has been under way for a number of years and while a deputy principal has been appointed, and promises have been made around the location of the new school – to be located at Synge Street CBS – “no information or timeline has been provided” on the phases of development, she said.
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The development is part of a transition between CBS Synge Street and Gaelcholáiste Synge on the same site.
[ Schoolchildren, parents and teachers call for new GaelcholáisteOpens in new window ]
“Our parents and students have many questions and concerns about how this will work when the two cohorts of students are to be kept separate from each other to ensure fairness for all students and that full-immersion education is available to Gaelcholáiste students,” Ní Chairealláin said.
Speaking to The Irish Times, Julian de Spáinn, chairperson of the parents’ committee of the Dublin 2,4,6,8 campaign, said “we’re still very worried about the situation of the building itself... We were told there was going to be refurbishment done, we were promised a meeting with the Minister last July, that we’d see a timeline. We need this... We haven’t had it delivered yet,” he said.
Louisa Ní Éideáin, a parent with a child at Bunscoil Synge, said “the Department of Education is not being fair to our children... by avoiding committing to a redevelopment of the building”. She said there was a contrast between the investment made at the Educate Together building on Harcourt Terrace and the approach to the new school at Synge Street.
Last year, The Irish Times reported there was opposition among some teachers to the plans to transform Synge Street CBS into a Gaelcholáiste, as many staff did not feel they had the standard of Irish needed to teach through the language, and were concerned about the potential impact on the diverse school community in the area, which includes pupils of many nationalities.
However, the Edmund Rice Trust (Erst) that oversees the school and owns the property told staff the plans would proceed and teachers would have the chance to upskill in Irish or be redeployed to other schools.
Separately, an annual gathering unveiling ambassadors for the upcoming Seachtain na Gaeilge event took place at the Civic Offices in Dublin on Wednesday afternoon.
Seachtain na Gaeilge is one of Ireland’s largest annual community-focused festivals.
Held for the first time in 1902, it now runs annually in March. Events are organised by community groups, schools, libraries, local authorities, and cultural and sporting groups, with tens of thousands participating each year.
This year’s ambassadors will include Conor Curley, lead guitarist with Fontaines DC, and Róisín Seoighe, sean-nós singer and lead singer with IMLÉ.
