LABOUR Party councillor Elena Secas has called on the Council to write to the Minister for Education to request that a new primary school be established in the Castletroy area.
Speaking at this week’s Metropolitan District meeting, Cllr Secas explained that this was needed to keep pace with the significant increase in the population and new housing developments in the area.
“As we speak, the local schools are at their full capacity. Every single year there are people struggling to get school places for their children in their local schools. These are people who live in the area, whose children would have attended the local crèche and yet they are struggling to get a place in their local school,” she told council members.
The City East representative revealed that she has had parents this summer tell her that their children have been on the waiting list trying to get in their local school for the past five years.
“They live within walking distance from the local school and yet they have to bring their children to school into the city. And on top of that, now they have to drive every day because of the complete lack of public transport from Annacotty into the city.
“One must wonder, what do people in the fastest growing suburb in Munster need to do to get the services and facilities they deserve?”
According to Cllr Secas, one of the local schools have advised that they have 45 pupils currently on the waiting list for admission to the school.
“We are in deep crisis mode in Castletroy when it comes to the availability of school places. The Government have failed the children of Castletroy big time. They failed to plan in a timely fashion for the expansion of student numbers in the area, and they are failing to respond to the increasing demand for school places in the area,” she concluded.
