“There is still a lot of work to do.” – O’Dowd
“Far too may ifs, buts and maybes” – Nash
Four years since it opened the ongoing saga of providing a permanent home for the Drogheda Educate Together Secondary School (DETSS) continues but, thanks to several U-turns and changes of mind, the provision of a permanent home is still some way off.
In February 2021, the shock news broke that the Drogheda Educate Together Secondary School was to move from its temporary home in prefab buildings at Mill Road in Mornington to a site on the St. Oliver’s Community College in Drogheda.
This went down like a lead balloon with parents of students in the school the majority of whom are living in the densely populated East Meath area, and they initiated a protest campaign accusing Education Minister Norma Foley of exhibiting a callous disregard for their children and pointing out that the move would be the third move in as many years for the students.
The matter was raised in the Daíl and the decision was finally reversed so the school remained where it was but still accommodated in the prefab buildings while they waited on planning for a permanent home.
Deputy Fergus O’Dowd raised the issue with the Minister again on Monday (February 1) and was told that contracts for the sale of the land have been signed but they are conditional on the landowner carrying out certain infrastructure upgrades at the site.
The application for planning permission for the permanent building is not now expected to be lodged until the second quarter of 2022.
Deputy O’Dowd said he would be keeping the pressure on the Minister, the Department and the Council saying “there is still a lot of work to do.”
“The next step is to await the decision of the interim application which I hope will be decided upon shortly, if successful the permanent application will then be submitted.”
DETSS planning should be fast-tracked – Nash
However Deputy Ged Nash said the planning application for the DETSS should be fast-tracked.
He said that the Minister had told him that the Council has made it clear to the landowner that the ‘planning application for the permanent accommodation must be cognisant of the overall development plans by the landowner for their wider landholding.'”
“Of course, it makes sense that everything in the area should fit together” Nash said, but that it is his view that there are “far too may ifs, buts and maybes on what is the provision of an essential, public school building project”.
“The project is too dependent on the vagaries of other planned developments in the area. This should not be the case for a school project of this nature.
“There is a strong case given the demand for places at DETSS that the school should be fast-tracked and delivered earlier than the 2025 timescale which the Minister identified one year ago.
“The project needs to be delivered much earlier from an educational, social and value for money point of view and this should be the focus of the Department of Education, who have again just last week refused to sanction any additional first year places to meet current demand.
“I am further disappointed that the National Transport Authority has confirmed to me in recent weeks that any plans to introduce cycle lanes and new paths linking Donacarney with the school will be put on the back burner until there is clarity on what is happening with the planning application for the school.”
