Much Anticipated Location Of New Gaelscoil Bhiorra Revealed
Meitheamh 4, 2015
THERE was palpable excitement amongst the Gaelgeoiri of Birr when the venue, chosen by the Department of Education, for Gaelscoil Bhiorra was unveiled this week.
With education no stranger to the former home of St John’s Mercy secondary school on Wilmer road until the amalgamation of the town’s second level schools in 1979, the building looks set to once again welcome pupils back through its doors after it was chosen as the location for the new Gaelscoil Bhiorra by the Department of Education.
With plans already completed to design stage, the project is now ready to go to tender subject to planning approval, which will be sought in the coming fortnight.
Cllr John Carroll, the Chairman of the Board of Management along with fellow Board member Stella Ni Mhaille and Caoimhin O h’Eaghra, An Runai of an Foras Patrunachta met with the Department officials this week for a briefing on progress on the Gaelscoil for Birr.
Following the meeting, they said they were very impressed with the amount of work already invested in the project by the Department and by their energy, enthusiasm and commitment to get the school up and running. This commitment by the Department to provide a Gaelscoil in Birr was in response to wishes of the local community, who participated in Diversity in Education plebiscite two years ago and showed a demand for a multi-denominational co-education Gaelscoil in Birr under the patronage of An Foras Patrunachta.
Gaelscoil Bhiorra will be a four classroom school with a large multi-purpose room, principal’s office, toilets and other ancillary services. Entrance will be via the Wilmer Road car park where a new extension will facilitate a link via a stairs and a lift to first floor. There will be no contact either physical or visual with the services provided on the ground floor by HSE.
The Gaelscoil will be a stand-alone facility and there is provision for a substantial outdoor play area, which will be suitably surfaced and the school is also within easy access of the town’s public playground. The renowned walled garden, which was so carefully managed in the past by the Mercy Sisters, will now be part of the extended recreational area and offer endless ideas of how it can best be incorporated and utilised in the interest of pupils.
With the school due to open in September, it is open for enrolment only to infants or beginners, unless you have to move to Birr and have not already attended another school in the parish or you are presently travelling to attend a Gaelscoil outside the parish and in these cases regardless of age or grade your child’s education can be considered.
Having met with Department officials in the County Arms, the party then adjourned to the proposed school where they met the head of property with HSE to view the premises. According to those involved in the project, any reservations about its suitability vanished as they went through the building and saw its potential with matching drawings.
Cllr Carroll stated that he ‘is in no doubt that when proposed work is completed Gaelscoil Bhiorra will be comparable with any centre of education not alone in the parish but in the county’.
The Chairman added that he was ‘very impressed’ by the co-operation of the Department of Education and the HSE, who he said ‘have shown imagination, flexibility and co-operation in moving this project at speed’.
Concluding, he pointed out that ‘not alone are we getting a state of the art school but a building, which was neglected and in danger of decay, is now becoming an invaluable resource to Birr’ and achieves an objective of Birr 20:20, which is the practical use of derelict buildings or a building in danger of becoming derelict.
Unfortunately, the refurbishment works for the school will not be completed on time to open its doors in September. However, the Board members were given a firm commitment that it would be ready for the second term. They stated: ‘What a way to start 2016, with the children moving into a modern school building where our language, our music, our culture and our traditions will be nourished and nurtured into the future.’
Alternative accommodation plans have already been put in place for the new school to open its doors in September while the refurbishment works take place.
According to the Board of Management, while there are still a few ‘I’s to dot and Ts to cross, it’s proposed that the first term of Gaelscoil Bhiorra will be in the mutli-purpose room of Birr Town Soccer club at Woodfield.
The Board members along with An Foras Patrunachas and Department officials also visited this premises recently and all were happy it would be more than adequate to meet the needs of the Gaelscoil until the end of the year. ‘It has a good safe set down area, good play area facility and will be exclusive to Gaelscoil during the school week.
Everyone concerned and involved in Gaelscoil Bhiorra are excited about what lies ahead and the realisation of a dream for so many, a genuine opportunity to promote Irish as a living language among our children.’ If you wish to enrol your child or get more information, do contact Eimear at (087) 9303287.
