Cork school writes to Children's Ombudsman seeking support to get school traffic warden

A Cork City school which has long-campaigned for a school warden has asked the Ombudsman for Children to intervene as hopes for a warden being allocated have dwindled.

The board of management of the Cork Educate Together National School (CETNS) on Grattan Street has written to the ombudsman’s office seeking support, saying the situation on Grattan Street is “intolerable and dangerous”.

CETNS had repeatedly applied for a warden to no avail, but hopes had been piqued following budgetary allocation by Cork City Council for two additional wardens.

Video dated October 14, 2021

However, in the correspondence to the ombudsman’s office, the school said it has not yet received confirmation as to whether it will be allocated a school traffic warden.

“Our understanding is that a sub-committee has been convened to determine the allocation of these positions.

“It is with a sense of growing unease and frustration that the deliberations of this sub-committee remain opaque to us,” the board said.

“We quite reasonably expected to be informed, by now, of our status within these deliberations.” 

The school has frequently highlighted safety concerns, stating that the Zebra crossing adjacent to the school is frequently ignored by motorists.

Short of a traffic warden “alerting inattentive drivers of the pedestrian crossing” and managing the flow of traffic to facilitate the safe crossing of children, the situation – the board said - remains “wholly unacceptable”.

The board claimed that, following the budgetary allocation for more school traffic wardens and - having laid plain its concerns to local public representatives - it was led to believe it would soon receive this service.

The board said the school may now look to take protest action.

“As the urgency of the situation has, if anything, increased, absent reassurance that our case is being given due consideration, we reserve the right to engage in actions that we would rather weren’t necessary.

“Following a meeting with the Middle Parish Community Association and Community Garda on Thursday the 4th of May, we are confident of their full support in escalating our campaign to address the ongoing hazard that blights our community,” it said.

“We have identified the health and safety risks and notified An Garda Síochana and Cork City Council on many occasions.

“We must seek to protect the children in our care. We believe that we have done our utmost to secure the provision of a traffic warden and yet we are no closer,” the board continued.

“The situation we find ourselves in is untenable and it is unfathomable that we are forced to contemplate the very real prospect of a serious accident involving a member of our school community.

“We are frustrated, fearful and disappointed that this ongoing situation has yet to be resolved through the provision of a school traffic warden.”