At a recent meeting of Wicklow County Council at which the re-location of St Brigid’s School, Greystones was discussed, Green Party councillor Deirdre de Burca claimed that the council is failing to meet the educational needs of this growing town.

St Brigids is one of two primary schools that serve the residential areas to the north and in the centre of the town. Wicklow County Councillors were discussing the proposed re-location of St Brigid’s School from its current site near the town centre, to Charlesland which is a further 3 km away. Cllr de Burca said that Wicklow County Council had a responsibility not just to ensure enough new school spaces were provided for the growing population of Greystones, but that it needed to ensure that the schools were in the right location.

“We are aware that many children today don’t lead very active lifestyles and tend to be driven everywhere” says de Burca. “This leads to the serious problem of growing childhood obesity, and other health problems. It makes good planning sense to locate new schools near to residential areas so that children can walk or cycle to school”

“While the new school at Charlesland is badly needed to serve the population of the South West of the town, the proposed relocation of St Brigid’s School will mean that parents from the populated north end of the town will now have to drive 3 km across town to leave their children to school. This is not good planning”. De Burca says that if it is easy for parents to walk their children to local schools, it avoids the kind of traffic congestion that happens around schools at pick-up times when children are being collected.

The Green Party councillor outlined two possible solutions for the future of St Brigids. She proposed that the Holy Rosary Order could reconsider its decision to move St Brigid’s school and remain in its present location, while building an extension on nearby land. As an alternative, she called on County Manager, Eddie Sheehy, to hand over 3 acres of council-owned land near the Script Pub in Greystones for a town-centre site for a new school for Greystones. “The County Manager has told councillors that he wants to sell this council-owned site to fund the Third Level College at Clermont, Rathnew, but the interests of the children of Greystones must come first” says de Burca.