Sir, – The lack of places at secondary level comes as little surprise to schools struggling to meet demand (“Three out of four parents unable to secure spots at oversubscribed secondary schools”, Education, March 18th).
As chairperson of a new secondary school in one of the planning areas affected, I can assure your readers that schools themselves bear no blame for the ongoing crisis.
Malahide/Portmarnock Educate Together Secondary School (MPETSS) emerged from a patronage competition in 2016 and was originally scheduled to open its doors in 2017. Delays in securing temporary accommodation forced us to postpone our opening until 2018.
Eight years after our campaign, only the first phase of our permanent accommodation has been built.
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Getting this far has taken an enormous effort by our voluntary board of management, our management team, and the entire school community. We have worked tirelessly to progress our build and get the school on its feet.
Regular engagement with local TDs has been central to this process, while questions addressed to the Department of Education have gone unanswered. The timelines for the second phase of our build remain unclear.
Having moved out of temporary accommodation in 2022, we recently learned that we are getting new prefabs for our next intake of students in September. It feels like we are going backwards.
We still have no sports hall.
Had MPETSS opened in 2017 as planned, and had our permanent building been completed in a single phase, we would be far better placed to meet local demand.
Parents are not the only ones who are frustrated. Hard-working school managers, board members and campaigners are frustrated too.
It should not take 10 years or more to build a school. Our students deserve better. – Yours, etc,
DAVID GRAHAM,
Chairperson to the Board of Management
Malahide/Portmarnock Educate Together Secondary School,
Swords,
Co Dublin.
Sir, – Your education editor Carl O’Brien writes that his son cannot be guaranteed a place in a secondary school in his hometown of Greystones, Co Wicklow (“My son is in fourth class, and the scramble for a secondary-school place has begun”, Opinion & Analysis, March 23rd).
Is it not strange that this can happen in a constituency that returns five TDs, representing five different political parties, including two locals who are Government Ministers? – Yours, etc,
LOUIS O’FLAHERTY,
Santry,
Dublin 9.