Curragh Community College should be made a priority

ATHY TD Mark Wall is urging the minister for education to make Curragh Community College’s new school building a priority for the Department of Education and Youth’s implementation plan under the National Development Plan.

The new school building at Curragh Community College, based at Magee Barracks, has been confirmed to be at ‘stage 3 – tender action and award’. Deputy Wall confirmed that the tender returns for the new school building have been received and are currently under review, but holds that the school should be made a priority by the Department of Education.

Deputy Wall recently visited the current school, located in The Curragh Camp, and met the principal of the school and members of the parents’ association.

He said: “Following a recent visit to The Curragh Community College, I have raised the dire conditions students and staff are in with the minister for education and youth.” 

“The number one priority is and remains a new school building for The Curragh Community College. I am shocked to see the conditions students and the staff team are having to learn and work in.

“A number of classrooms are out of use due to health and safety concerns, radiators are not working, while there is mould and even fungus growth in classrooms. The current school building is no longer fit for purpose.” 

Deputy Wall explained that the school must be made a priority for inclusion in the ‘National Development Plan – Implementation Plan for Education and Youth’, which is expected to announce its first selected projects this January.

“Anything short of this will leave students and staff in unsafe conditions with no help or support,” said deputy Wall.

He added that emergency works to address the immediate health and safety concerns in the school should be made another priority through the emergency works scheme. A site visit was undertaken in December to assess the school’s condition and an application for the scheme was recommended to the Department of Education.

“I have again written to the minister to ensure that her department expedites this application,” he said.

“It is a testament to the pupils, their families and principal Nessa Doyle and her staff team that they continue to maintain a positive spirit in the face of such dreadful conditions. This is a great school who deserve more than they are getting at this time,” he concluded.