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SCHOOL CHILDREN IN Cabra in Dublin’s northside have been without their GAA grounds for three years.
In January 2016 Naomh Fionnbarra GAA club in Cabra, Dublin donated its all-weather pitch to the local gaelscoil so that a new school building could be constructed.
Under the terms of the contract, the club said the Department of Education leased the pitch to use during the construction of the new Gaelscoil Bharra building. As part of the deal, the department would build an all-weather pitch to replace the one used in the building phase.
The new school was built by Sammon Construction which ceased operating following the collapse of Carillion Construction earlier this year.
The building opened in September 2017, however school principal Seán Ó Donaile has told TheJournal.ie there have been issues.
The heating doesn’t work, we have no drinking water, there’s a lengthy snag list.
The GAA club and school have always been linked, the pupils have had no pitch to play on for three years, and it seems no one is accountable.
The sentiment is shared by the GAA club, spokesperson Nicky Keogh said:
This would not happen in more affluent areas, where a young community is denied these vital facilities. What makes the issue more frustrating is the fact that the pitch could be finished in one month if the Department of Education was more efficient.
According to the club, the Department of Education said in October 2017 there was five weeks worth of work left in order to complete the pitch.
Over 12 months on, and the pitch has not been completed. The club has spent in region €40,000 on the hiring of other facilities in the meantime (pitches etc) – money they will now have to fundraise to recoup.
In response to a query on the matter a Department of Education and Skills spokesperson released the following statement TheJournal.ie:
Tender negotiations between the Bondsman, the Design Team and the specialist sub-contractors for the completion works are at an advanced stage and it is anticipated that an agreed figure can be reached by late November/early December.
The Design Team has been liaising with the Principal of Gaelscoil Bharra in relation to any defects and snags in the school building, and all these items have been included in the ongoing negotiations.
The spokesperson also said the Design Team is “keeping the GAA Club informed of progress”.
Naomh Fionnbarra GAA club has 600 members, 400 of those children, and runs 16 juvenile teams.
Ó Donaile said the school fully supports the protest, “as it is, we’re banging our heads against a brick wall”.
Protesting seems the only way to get anything done.
A delegation of parents and children from Naomh Fionnbarra GAA club and Gaelscoil Bharra will travel from Dublin to the Department of Education’s offices in Tullamore, County Offaly today. There they will hand over hundreds of letters from children calling for their pitch to be restored.
Keogh said they are making the journey because the development office of the department is based in Tullamore and they want to deliver their protest directly.
Club secretary Seamus McGrattan has described the entire situation as “a mess”:
The most frustrating aspect is not that we are still waiting after three years for this project to be completed, but there is zero accountability in the Department of Education.
A significant number of communities are suffering, the children and young people are suffering and no-one will take responsibility for the mess.
Naomh Fionnbarra GAA club has requested a meeting with Minister Joe McHugh to discuss the situation.
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If it had of been a hockey pitch or a golf club
Or up the road in Leo’s Parish !!!
heres the reality. less affluent areas =higher likelihood of people voting SF or other left / independent candidate. generally means FF FG (whichever is in gov or has majority in council) have no real urgency in doing anything as its unlikely to sway voters.
@Stuart Boyle: the night of the count in 2016 SF ruled out entering talks on government formation. If what you say is the case then didn’t SF let don’t their electorate badly.
@Jane: Why should they be another labour party. FF aren’t commiting themselves either.
@Jane: you are correct, they ran straight to the opposition bench, they walked away from government in NI and won’t take their seats in Westminster. They are like the fella in a pub you has an opinion on everything but won’t do anything about it.
@Sean Conway: so party come first? That’s ok is it?
@Patrick O Connell: This after statements from both FG and FF that they would have no part in any negotiations with SF in forming a government,
They don`t take their seats in Westminster, and this is the principle they get elected on in the North – never to take the oath to the Queen…. , But you, like the fella in the pub has an opinion and an explanation on everything , but facts on nothing….
Give your head a wobble this morning, you are lying through your teeth.
@Patrick O Connell: “they walked away from government in NI and won’t take their seats in Westminster”
You literally haven’t a clue Patrick, if you don’t know something then keep your mouth shut otherwise you look like a fool which is the case here.
How does it feel making yourself look a light fool before its even 9am?
They resigned from Stormont because Arlene wouldn’t stand aside to allow an independent investigation into Cash 4 Ash, they also won’t take their seats because people voted them in on the abstention basis.
@Pixie McMullen: you’re the one that needs to wake up, every party says they won’t go into government with each other, it’s called compromise. Pearse Doherty saying last night that SF has abstained from Westminster for over a hundred years yet the SF he is a member of was formed in 1968, another lie. Gerry Adams says he was never in the IRA, another lie. Sf claim to be the party of the working class yet go to the US have $100 plate function and why don’t SF boycott the US as they are Israel’s biggest ally and SF condemn them all the time against Palestine and SF are Hugh supporters of Palestine.
@Mark McDermott: and look at NÍ now, they have the world record for a country with no functioning government. Ye didn’t see other parties resign when SF were operating a spy ring in Stormont a while back.
@Jane: Well if you want to rid us of FF/FG. then yes!
Surely the Department of Education should be liable for the €40,000.
Well that is not true, Cuala in Dalkey, do not own a blade of grass or have an all weather pitch.
@Paul Fahey: someone didn’t read the article.
@Paul Fahey: @Paul Fahey: Naomh Fionnbarra fundraised and took out a mortgage over 15 years ago and built themselves an all weather flood lit pitch. To help out with the building of the new school the club allowed a temporary school be built on their pitch as well as giving over some land to the school and in return the pitch was to be reconfigured and returned to club.
the point is, if this happened in an more affluent area there would be a bigger outcry, as their was when the nearest club to Naomh Fionnbarra, na Fianna looked like they were going to loose their pitch because of Metro North and Pascal Donohue went on TV objecting. Now he is also the local TD for Naomh Fionnbarra area but has not once appeared at the protest. That’s the point Cabra is not affluent enough for him.
@Paul Fahey: Naomh Fionnbarra fundraised and took out a mortgage over 15 years ago and built themselves an all weather flood lit pitch. To help out with the building of the new school the club allowed a temporary school be built on their pitch as well as giving over some land to the school and in return the pitch was to be reconfigured and returned to club.
the point is, if this happened in an more affluent area there would be a bigger outcry, as their was when the nearest club to Naomh Fionnbarra, na Fianna looked like they were going to loose their pitch because of Metro North and Pascal Donohue went on TV objecting. Now he is also the local TD for Naomh Fionnbarra area but has not once appeared at the protest. That’s the point Cabra is not affluent enough for him.
@Stan Stynes: yes I did and it does happen in affluent areas. Cuala have received many promises from authorities and nothing happened.
It shows how irrelevant Boards of Management are when it falls to the overworked school principal to highlight the real problems. What is needed is a strike by the principal and staff to get the snag lists and pitch properly attended to. It’s the only way to get action from the Department of Education. Place a permanent picket of parents and teachers on a rotation basis at Marlborough Street until a proper solution is found. Make it clear that the protest is not against the Board of Management but against the Department. The question is will the Board of Management or the Union approve and support the action.
Clearly not a fee-paying school in His Highness Lord Ross’ constituency.
Well yes it would, because the same thing is happening in Knocklyon. And a similar thing was attempted in Clonkeen college in Deansgrange.
When we have an article on childhood obesity, all the comments are the same… get off the couch and play. But the truth is more and more of local playing fields are being used for other purposes. The GAA should sue the DES for breach of contract, that might put a rocket under their ass.
Its bit of a simplistic argument. Knocklyon Uniteds (middle class area) football pitches are being taken off them by the council for the development of affordable housing. So it appears to be not only restricted to working class areas.
have your say