2000 letters of protest

national | rights, freedoms and repression | news report

Tuesday April 24, 2007 10:30

by Chris Murray

Lets call this #2001

The student body and staff of Loreto College , Crumlin Road, have been campaigning for sometime on lack of facilities for their pupils. So I am Publishing their letter here.

The Hall Doors are emblazoned with 'Wanted 'signs and the slogan:
'No Canteen, No Hall, no vote in the Dail'

Leaving Cert Students who will be moving on to the colleges and techs are giving up precious time on behalf of their fellow students to work on the campaign- call it 'Civics in Action'. Girls with veils and girls of colour are talking about current political topics.

2000 letters of protest.

[The Letter]

Mary Hanfin, Minister for Education and Science
Department of Education and Science
Marlboro Street
Dublin 1

Re: Loreto College Crumlin Road Building Application:

Dear Minister,

Loreto College Crumlin has recently applied for a new clasroom and administration block and a sports hall. This is the fourth application for a sports hall since 1994.

At present due to lack of facilites, the campus uses four separate off campus facilities for sports and PE classes.

A recent survey that we carried out shows that Dublin 12 has far fewer schools (44%) with sports halls than the more affluent surrounding areas: Dublin 6 (86%) Dublin 6W (100%), Dublin 14 (71%), Dublin 16 (60%) and Dublin 24 (100%). This inequality is shocking.

The school is situated in an area which cries out for facilites. The school has a site with excellent access and parking facilities. A sports hall could be used by the community in the evenings and at the weekends.

At present , seven class groups use prefabs erected over 21 years ago as a temporary measure.

Due to lack of dining facilities, students eat lunch in their classrooms. Teachers and administrative staff lack adequate workspace.

I am calling on you, Minister to sanction the schools application for a new clasroom &administration block and sports hall.

Yours sincerely,

Chris Murray (past pupil of Loreto College , Crumlin Road)

I will add into the comments the Dept of Education figures for 2006, which showed an underspend and under-resourcing of the state school system.

I will also add in information on the Primary Principals campaign to ask parents not to pay towards school upkeep for the 2007-2008 term , in an effort to force the Government to resource our State education system adequately.

The canteen issue is appalling ,with a similar situation in the primary campus and where community volunteers accompany children with familial difficulties into class; and provide for them a hot meal each day.

This inequitious situation where the private sector is getting state funds is creating a two-tier education system which indicates the deliberate running down of the State sector in our society.

save preference

Comments (7 of 7)

Irish curriculum mutiny

by C.

Tue May 15, 2007 11:56

Mary Hanafin TD has attacked the Irish Language approach to learning in Primary schools and is
facing mutiny by principals.

[Irish Independent, 15/05/07]

She cut the Traveller Capitiation Grants. [enforced mainstreaming of indigenous communities]

She has underspent on the school building programmes.

There is a scandalous underinvestment in educatonal psychology and hidden figures
regarding adhd/autisim/dsylexia.

Meanwhile our bank machines and newspaper ads are bilingual !
Polish bi-lingual.

It is a cosmetic excercise to Have a cultural and language that is nodding
to the needs of a people whilst investing in the rich through active globalisation.
if the government had spent 1/10 of what Bertie has invested in the republican
graves at Glas Naion (13 million) and on that stupid military parade
and invested it in the future generations of our country and not on a fetished
memorial to our glorious past-would we be in this mess.

The Taoiseach worships Pearse- its a known fact, but allows his deputies
to destroy Ireland through greed and robbery. The next generation has
ts wealth stolen and given back to them in lego boxes.

Undue influence?

by C Murray

Thu Apr 26, 2007 11:20

There is a report in the indo today that states the irish writers such as Maeve Binchy, Roddy Doyle
and Cecilia Ahern should be included in the Junior cert curriculum.

Roddy is good.

Teachers unions are criticised for : choosing staples like 'To Kill a Mocking Bird'

(boo is cool, is he not?)

Anyway- C. Ahern is considered 'Challenging'. yep-[ Russian Roulette challenging].

Question?- would inclusion on the junior cert programme increase the wage
packet of the daughter of the Taoiseach????

[Hearts and flowers book covers on the desks of the State's Schools- what is that
book title- about the Rainbow?- Over the rainbow ;-)

I think that the Junior certs are incredibly discriminating about their reading
material with most loving 'the Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime' by
mark haddon.

The campaign to highlight lack of community and school resource in
loreto College continues- and hopefully they won't be subjected to bullying,
afterall it always gets out (as it did in Sandymount over the focus group on
incineration).

FFers

by Sick

Wed Apr 25, 2007 00:01

What do you expect from the political wing of the developers.
They don't give a damn about you, me or any of our kids.
Hanafin is a slick talker with no substance.
How did you vote in the last election?
How will you vote in the next?
If you helped elect any of this govt. then shame on you.
I was always a middle-of-the-road voter but now the unthinkable has happened -
I will be supporting SF before any of the 3 main parties.
FF took up where the british govt. left off. Their first act when in govt. is to betray those
who elected them.

Yep- its true what they say about convent girls

Tue Apr 24, 2007 20:25

I hope that is not distracting from the issue of the appalling difficulty at the school
or the one hot meal a day that some kids get in the school,

Or the lack of admin block.
or the lack of Sports facilities.
or the lack of canteen.

They also had an: library. Orchestra. Choir. [and all within the State school system].
Sex education programmes. Science and Tech. a high rate of Leaving certs who attended
the universities.

This was during deep recession, we are now the wealthiest Country in Western Europe
and cannot provide facilities to the state school system and the Dept of Education
deliberately underspent on School building programmes last year- go work that
one out....

re;- the Letter.

Tue Apr 24, 2007 19:05

It is one of over 2,000 letters drafted by the school staff and students.

I asked for a copy of it and permission to put it up here.

Crumlin is not an affluent area and the catchment includes pupils from
Harolds X , Dolphins Barn, Drimnagh, City Centre , Walkinstown , Perrystown
and Clondalkin.

It is a state school.
The letter stresses the positive effect it will have on the community.(a decent sports facility)
it is an excellent school.
the staff are de-moralised.
There is a need for community support.

Their letter or your letter?

by another point

Tue Apr 24, 2007 14:33

You say at the start of this article that you will include the letter of the pupils and staff below - but all I see is a letter from Chris Murray, an ex pupil. So is there actually any letter from the pupils and staff or is this just another unclear C Murray posting to Indymedia?

We're all in the same boat

by Mark C

Tue Apr 24, 2007 12:54

This is a terrible disgrace.

The school that I teach in, Mercy College Woodford, was promised an extension in 2000 - we currently host 264 students on a campus built for 200. Seven years later, we have been told that we are now on 'Band 2' and nothing will be built until we are on 'Band 1'.

The school that my wife teaches in were told about 30 years ago that they are due to have a sports hall built (at present there is none whatsoever) but it has not materialised - THREE DECADES LATER .

It's hard to believe that the Minister for Education is a former teacher - or perhaps she left the profession because of the state it is in. Either way, it's all to no avail.

Mark.

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2000 letters of protest

Comments (7 of 7)