Coláiste Ráithín Public Meeting 29th May
May 17, 2012
Parents of Coláiste Raithín have sent an Invitation to all Wicklow TD’s, Co. Wicklow VEC and Bray Town Councillors to come to an Open Public Meeting on Tuesday, the 29th May 2012 in Coláiste Raithín.
Cairde Ráithín, Coláiste Ráithín’s Parents Association, and all its feeder schools are holding an Open Public Meeting in Coláiste Ráithín on Tuesday, 2nd May 2012, at 8pm, to meet with the 5 Co. Wicklow TD’s, Co. Wicklow VEC and Bray Town Councillors to discuss the latest letter from the Minister for Education, Ruairí Quinn, T.D. to Bray Councillor John Brady. This letter outlined that there would be no possibility whatsoever for a new school building for Coláiste Ráithín for the foreseeable future.
Following on the two protest marches to both the Department of Education & Skills and to Dáil Éireann, parents intend to keep pressure on those responsible to the local education community by holding this open meeting on Tuesday, the 29th May in order to insist that a way forward is found out of this nightmare for Coláiste Raithín.
Since 1994, management, staff and parents in Coláiste Ráithín have been working towards a new building for Coláiste Ráithín. Seventeen years after the Department of Education first sanctioned a new building, Coláiste Ráithín is still in the same position – on 2 separate sites in Bray town centre with 50% accommodation in portacabins. There are little recreational and there are no sports facilities. Despite this, the school is one of the best schools in Wicklow and South Dublin and pupils continue to thrive academically. Coláiste Ráithín is the top non-fee paying school in Leinster outside of Dublin in the just-released 2012 school league tables and in the top ten non-fee paying schools nationwide.
After 6 months in negotiations with the Minister, the Department of Education and Skills; Wicklow VEC (the patrons of Coláiste Raithín); Wicklow T.D.’s and Bray Town Council, no real progress whatsoever, has been made for a new building. The Minister’s letter to Councillor Brady is final proof that Coláiste Raithín is at the very bottom of everyone’s priority list. Parents are now fed up with this situation. They insist that to say there are no plans at all for a new building in the next 10 – 20 years is an absolute non-runner, and not acceptable to this large community and they further insist their concerns be dealt with now.
This open meeting will be an opportunity for the Co. Wicklow TD’s, Co. Wicklow VEC and Bray Town Councillors to explain to parents and pupils why this situation has been allowed to continue for so long, and how they propose to change the Minister’s, and the Department of Education’s, mind.
NOTE: A relocated Coláiste Ráithín, in its entirety, includes staff, ethos and existing policies, including its current policies of admission for all its feeder schools in the area outlined above.
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For further information, please contact: Paul Moore, spokesperson from Coiste Cóiríochta Coláiste Ráithín / 086 838 5049 /
pmoore@iol.ie
Members of north Wicklow community can sign the petition in hard copy at Coláiste Ráithín or online at: http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/colaisteraithinnewschoolbuilding2014/
Notes to editors:
A Summary of the history of the relocation efforts for Coiste Cóiríochta Coláiste Ráithín is available. Please email pmoore@iol.ie for more information or phone Paul Moore on 086 838 5049
