Carry That Wait

Matthew, Elaine and Anya of the Building Committe at GCC site FRI2FEB24

ard to believe that, after the long and grinding road to the Greystones Community National School finally opening its doors after a 6-year delay, its big brother is suffering the same stupidity.

We won’t bore you with all the sorry details, but the town’s latest school debacle – with planning approved in April 2022 and the Charlesland site [in behind GoGym] bought in June that year – has inspired the Building Committee of Greystones Community College’s Parent Leadership Team to issue something approaching a war-cry.

GCC site layout plans MAR22

A letter sent out this evening to those parents with kids hoping to attend a secondary school that went to tender last April outlines the seriousness – and the ridiculousness – of the situation.

That building committee is made up of Philip Matthews, Elaine Killilea, Anya Llewellyn and Orla Guiry, and today’s letter goes something very much like this…

Dear Parents-Guardians-Community Members,

We, the Building Committee of the Parent Leadership Team (PLT) of Greystones Community College (GCC) would like to update you on the current situation regarding GCC enrolment and the building of the GCC permanent School Building in Charlesland.

It is essential we make our community fully aware of the situation we have been placed in.

Despite the site being purchased in Charlesland nearly 2 years ago, ground has not been broken. In fact, there is no indication of any works beginning in the near future. The current government assured us the school would be ready for occupation by September 2024. It won’t be.

The situation is at a crisis point for families in Greystones with children due to start 1st year in 2024, 2025 and in 2026. The 3 secondary schools in Greystones simply do not have enough school places for the number of children that are currently attending 6th class, 5th class and 4th class.

The Department of Education started the tender process in April 2023 but no decision has been made despite the closing date for tenders being the 20th of September 2023. The funding to build the school has been allocated. The tender must be awarded immediately to avoid any more delays, or worse the submitted tenders expire and we have to start the whole process again.

This issue is an issue for the greater Greystones community. It affects every family and child in our community. We ask everyone to put pressure on all of our local TDs, Ministers and the Department of Education to get the permanent building for our secondary school built now. No more delays. No more extreme stress and anxiety for the parents and students seeking to enter secondary school each year.

The Greystones Tennis Club Years

This issue is recurring every year for the past 5 years. It is time for it to stop. It can’t stop until the GCC’s permanent building is built and in use.

Key summary
1. The 11.5 acre building site in Charlesland beside Hawkins Wood (see map below) is ready to go. On the 17/04/2022 Full planning permission was received to build the school, on 15/06/2022 the site was purchased by the Department of Education 19 months later and no construction has commenced.

2. The enrolment crisis in Greystones and surrounding areas is a direct result of the delays in building GCCs permanent building, leaving hugely limited available spaces in GCC for 1 st years in September 2025 and no space for 1 st year students in September 2026.

GCC site gates FRI2FEB24

3. Currently GCC temporary accommodation situation means the full curriculum is not available to GCC students.

4. Politicians have lobbied the government in an effort to secure commencement of the construction stage of the school building project. Despite their well publicised attempts the construction start date has not been set.

5. Minister Foley announced on the 5 th of April 2023 that funding had been secured to build GCC and 9 other schools. Ministers Foley also stated that she is planning to deliver a further 1,000 schools through her departments building program. 10 months have passed and the next 10 schools of which GCC is one haven’t even started construction.

6. Urgent action is needed from the Department of Education. Rental cost based on the figure disclosed in October 2020 through the Freedom of Information Act not taking into consideration inflation and increases in the size of the sites in both Eire Og and the Rugby Club.
€261,192 is the minimum annual cost of renting GCC’s 2 temporary accommodation
€10,833 per month for Eire Og
€10,833 per month for the Rugby club

€674,146 to date has been spent on renting the land for GCC. This is a shocking figure when the DOE owns the site for GCC for 18 months. Source here.
€129,996 Tennis Club(August 2020- August 2021)
€337,373 Rugby Club(August 2021- February 2024)
€206,777 Eire Og (August 2022 – February 2024)

In 2022 the estimated cost to build the school building was €29 million; it is now closer to €35 million.

⦿ In June 2021 the Department of Education purchased the 11.5 acre site, to house GCCs new school building with a view to complete construction by September 2024.  The tender process to appoint the builder to construct the school did not commence until April 2023, nearly two years later. It has been 10 months since the tender process began and it has still not been awarded. Construction cannot commence until the tender has been awarded to a construction company.  It has been confirmed by the Minister for Education that the construction of the GCC building will take 68 weeks. The tender must be awarded now, and construction needs to start immediately if the school is to be open by September 2026.

⦿ In GCC, 96 first year school places have been offered and accepted for September 2024. Currently there are 96 first year school places assigned to be allocated to students starting 1st year in September 2025. This will bring the school to full capacity in its current accommodation situation. This means that there will be no 1st year places being available in September 2026 unless the permanent school is built.

⦿ In December 2023 the Department of Education “guaranteed” that every child in Greystones would receive a school place for September 2024.  Given the lack of available spaces we believe GCC enrolment will have to be increased in 2024. This is a band aid fix. If these places are allocated for students commencing in 2024 there will be a further reduction in places to offer students starting 1st year in 2025, less than a third of its usual yearly intake at just two classes.

⦿ As GCC is currently located on two separate sites in prefabricated buildings the students and staff are suffering. Students can not avail of the full curriculum as they do not have access to an appropriately equipped building. There is no school hall or gymnasium. Prefabricated buildings are not acceptable to accommodate secondary school teaching. The Department of Education have owned the land designated for GCC’s permanent building for nearly two years and spent an extraordinary amount on temporary accommodation and rent during this time.

⦿ Nearly 500 families of current students are becoming increasingly concerned and frustrated as adequate school buildings have not been provided for the children. The Department of Education must now work more effectively and swiftly to alleviate the negative impact the building delays are having on families and the community as a whole.

Cairn’s neighbouring Hawkins Wood

It is only because of the team of excellent, dedicated, energised teachers led by Mr Farrell that GCC has excelled academically and is embedded in, and proudly serving, the Greystones community. The teachers and the students have made the school what it is today. It is time for them to teach and learn in the permanent building they have so often been promised they would have.

As the situation progresses, we will be keeping parents, guardians, and the community up to date with our actions and that of the government officials and community representatives.

Again, we would ask everyone to put pressure on all our local TDs, our Ministers, and the Department of Education, to get the permanent building for GCC secondary school built now.

Time is of the essence, please make your opinions known now.

You can get in touch with the GCC building committee on email here, and chart the school’s journey so far right here.