Green Party councillor, Deirdre de Burca, has said that she is extremely concerned about the lack of planning for the provision of primary schools in the Wicklow Town area.

De Burca has called on the new Wicklow Town Development Plan, currently being drawn up by Wicklow Town Council, to make much greater provision for sites for schools such as Educate Together and the Gaelscoil, both of which are in temporary premises with leases due to expire in the next three years.

“There must be adequate provision by the Wicklow Town and County Councils in their zoning and planning for suitable sites for the expanding number of children of primary school age in the Wicklow Town area” says de Burca. “I am aware that all Wicklow Town schools have requested a meeting with the Chairperson of Wicklow Town Council, the Town Manager, the Town Clerk and County Manager to air their concerns. The schools are quite rightly worried that critical decisions regarding the future of primary education in Wicklow Town will not be made in the new Town Development Plan, and that the necessary zoned educational sites will not be provided”.

The Green Party councillor warns that similar crises concerning the lack of primary school places which have arisen in areas such as Laytown, Newbridge and Lucan in recent years will arise in Wicklow Town in the near future if the planners are not pressed to address the issue properly. “Adequate and suitable land must be zoned appropriately, so that it remains within the financial reach of education providers” says de Burca. “I am calling on the Wicklow Town planners and indeed the councillors who will be adopting the new Town Development Plan to give this issue their full attention. Not to do so will condemn children in the town to remain in temporary and inadequate educational premises. This is not an acceptable vision for the future for the town’s parents or for their children”.