Finance minister backs revised Cork school building plans

FINANCE Minister Michael McGrath said he will work to ensure Owenabue Educate Together National School (ETNS) has adequate funding in order to progress a revised accommodation plan.

The school had previously expressed concern over what it said was a proposal from the Department of Education to split the school across two campuses on opposite sides of Carrigaline.

However, on Thursday the school confirmed that a revised plan has been agreed upon.

“While the new plan still involves a split-site arrangement, the proposal is now located entirely within Herons Wood, providing a more viable and convenient solution for our school community,” the school said.

It said that this solution is contingent upon obtaining planning permission and that its board of management is working “diligently” through the necessary processes.

In the statement, the school said it understands that a split-site scenario is “not the ideal situation for any school community” but that the revised plan “represents a significant improvement over the previous proposal”.

“There are significant challenges ahead, particularly financial, in funding and maintaining two sites,” Owenabue ETNS stated.

“We are engaging with the Department of Education for further information on how they will support the financial challenges,” it added.

Speaking to reporters in Cork yesterday, the finance minister said he will work to ensure adequate funding is provided to support the school in progressing the revised accommodation plan.

“I’ll be working very closely now with the principal, board of management, and the parents to ensure that there is adequate funding that would enable them to be in the same general area, because if they were split across two sites on opposite sides of the town, which was what was proposed originally, that would have caused huge inconvenience for parents and wouldn’t have been fair to separate families and separate the school community in such a fundamental way,” he said.

“So, I’ll be working with them now to make sure that the proposed solution is funded and that we can get that up and running as quickly as possible.”

Owenabue Educate Together National School, which opened in September, 2020, is currently in temporary accommodation in Herons Wood.

The school is awaiting the development of a permanent school, earmarked for development at a site in nearby Janeville, Carrigaline.

Speaking to The Echo, school principal Trina Golden described the revised plan as a “positive” development.

“There are challenges to come, particularly there’s work that will need to be done on the site to put in classrooms, so we’re on a tight, tight timeline for that and we’ll be working with everyone involved to try to move through that process as quickly as possible,” she said.

Ms Golden thanked all those who supported the school in campaigning for a revised accommodation plan.