Rezoning for new Gaelscoil in Mayfield refused

jimmysull

thejuggler wrote: »

Perhaps the citizens of Murmount (which is Mayfield really not Montenotte)

Point 1: It is Murmont not Murmount
Point 2: Murmont was a name created as combination of MURphy and MONTenotte. The Murphy being the developer who built the area in the 1960's, Tony Murphy
Point 3: "which is Mayfield really not Montenotte" is actually the nub of the issue. Anyone can check the maps in Cork City Hall and see that Murmont is in Montenotte. Go check it out, don't take my word for it. The Gaelscoil people have done this obviously and that is why they chose this site over the much more suitable site that they were offered free of charge with no need for rezoning from Mayfield Community School. The issue is that it's in Mayfield (again if you need to confirm this, check the maps)

This is snobbery on the part of the Gaelscoil organisation and parents.
Why should that snobbery take precedence over the rights of local residents?

The poll at the start of this thread is akin to a Robert Mugabe style democracy. You can vote but can't vote against me

Dermo123

If I am a developer and buy land and build houses on it and call it Highlands.
Does that mean that the area is called Highlands? Surely not.
Is Murmont a Park or Estate build in an area already with a name?
Should the question be "Is Murmont in Montenotte or Mayfield?"
I never heard any argument from those in favour of the school say the school had to be located in with an area with a certain name?
The school is looking for the best available site, that is all. If you were building a house you would do the same.

jimmysull

Dermo123 wrote: »

If I am a developer and buy land and build houses on it and call it Highlands.
Does that mean that the area is called Highlands? Surely not.

Surely you miss the point. I mentioned the origins of the name merely as context in making the point that it is the snobbery of the promoters drove the selection of the site.

Dermo123 wrote: »

I never heard any argument from those in favour of the school say the school had to be located in with an area with a certain name?
The school is looking for the best available site, that is all. If you were building a house you would do the same.

Again it is not the name of the location that matters but their rejection of the best site at Mayfield Community school and the motivation behind that rejection.

Dermo123

I fail to see how you have established that snobbery is the motivation behind the school wanting to locate in the Tank Field.
The term snobbery is a very handy stick to use against a school that is doing something a little different from the norm. The fact that the school is multidemoninational and does not have a catholic patron I know is a source of annoyance to some people. Also I have heard mention in some of the meetings I've attended that people who send their children to a "Gaelscoil" have notions of grandure. All these acqusations are coming from the "save the tank field" campaigners and are completely without foundation.

If YOU say that the best site is in Mayfield community school and YOU say that it was rejected it on the basis that its address is Mayfield then the Dept. of Education, An Bord Pleanala and all those involved in the mechanisms of sorting this out are the biased ones. I, as a parent am only a spectator in this whole process as are all the other parents too.
All you and I can do is voice our opinions as we are doing here.
The debate would be better served if we dealt with the facts rather that labeling people.

P.S. When people stick to the points about what the tank field means to them, then yes, I can see why people hate seeing any building being built on it.
The problem is is that there are two rights, the school childrens and the local residents. By all means put your labels on the planning process if that serves your purpose because at the end of the day it is they who make the decisions and not the Gaelscoil or the parents.

daddymick66

Its So Easy wrote: »

The bit behind the goal will go ? Sorry but its more than that. The club will be losing from the 65 metre line to the end of the green backing onto montenotte. So basically they wont have a pitch anymore. And i've seen the mark on the wall where it was to start.

there are plans with cork city council to realign the two playing pitches irrespective of the school ever being built or not, so would people please stop the scare tactics of saying that playing pitches are to be lost, if you doubt me then trawl the minuits of the cork city councillors meetings for 2006,there are lots of mistruths being spread by the so called concerened residents , i wonder why dont they clean up the cider bottles/ beer cans / used condoms and litter up there if this land is so dear to them as they claim or is it that they want to condemn those children to third world educational facilitys for ever more, and there is documentary evidence that the community school site was turened down as unsuitable for the gaeilscoil by the dept of education, do they honestly beleive that the dept had other sites but chose this one because its in good old mentesnotty

daddymick66

jimmysull wrote: »

Point 1: It is Murmont not Murmount
Point 2: Murmont was a name created as combination of MURphy and MONTenotte. The Murphy being the developer who built the area in the 1960's, Tony Murphy
Point 3: "which is Mayfield really not Montenotte" is actually the nub of the issue. Anyone can check the maps in Cork City Hall and see that Murmont is in Montenotte. Go check it out, don't take my word for it. The Gaelscoil people have done this obviously and that is why they chose this site over the much more suitable site that they were offered free of charge with no need for rezoning from Mayfield Community School. The issue is that it's in Mayfield (again if you need to confirm this, check the maps)

This is snobbery on the part of the Gaelscoil organisation and parents.
Why should that snobbery take precedence over the rights of local residents?

The poll at the start of this thread is akin to a Robert Mugabe style democracy. You can vote but can't vote against me

there is documentary evidence that the dept of education deemed the community school site as unsuitable on numerous grounds !!!!
so please stop speeling out mistruths:eek:

daddymick66

jimmysull wrote: »

Surely you miss the point. I mentioned the origins of the name merely as context in making the point that it is the snobbery of the promoters drove the selection of the site.




Again it is not the name of the location that matters but their rejection of the best site at Mayfield Community school and the motivation behind that rejection.

the dept of education turned down that site not the staff or parents or kids in the gaeilscoil !!!!!

maybe your people dont have all the facts that there letting on to have
an board pleanala saw through the retoric and voted sensibly for the childrens futures and the educational needs of future generations not just a pack of snobs hell bent on a campaign based on half truths etc etc:mad:

BanzaiBk

Fantastic poll, smart thinking there:rolleyes:

As a resident I can see where the Save the Tank Field brigade are coming from but the attitudes of those in favour is really grating many people the wrong way, myself included. The judgment of ABP was imo a laugh in the face of local democracy and seemed to trivialise the say that the residents had in the process. Not surprising though, this whole country is a joke.

Dermo123

I am genuinely sorry that you feel hand done by in this whole sorry affair but can you say how badly your quality of life will be affected by this decision?
There are people in this country trying to prevent incinerators ,landfills and the like coming into their communities. Have you asked yourself how a local school will have a detremental effect on your life as a citizen in this area? I am not trying to be sarcastic with you or the like but that green area has been eyed upon by developers for years. Don't trust some of the anti school campaigners as being genuine in wanting to preserve it as a green area forever more. I would rather see it as an open space too but we have all witnessed how some of our local politicans have changed their colours so easily in such a short space of time. Can you trust the body politic to stay on track in the long term? A school could be the saving grace for the area.

BanzaiBk

I never said I felt hard done by. I've asked myself lots of questions on the matter, and honestly it won't effect me either way. However I have serious issues with the attitudes of people towards this, who are viewing it from their perspectives and their perspectives only, on both sides. I don't think a school will be a saving grace for the area, and I don't think it should go ahead in this particular area after the way it has been handled.

Dermo123

OK thats fair enough but what do you see as the future for the tank field? Do you think the status quo will remain? I would not have a problem if it does but with a bit more imagination ie pathways (not tarmac or concrete) seating, tree planting, child ammenity fixtures etc. There is too much negative campaigning ongoing. All these committees formed in recent times are just reacting to developements rather than being proactive all along in trying to enhance their area to put their own mark on it. The current grass cutting is too little too late.

Dermo123

There are mutterings about a vote in the council tomorrow night about a Judical Review on An Bord Pleanalas decision to overturn the rezoning of the Tank Field. A proposal may be put forward on the matter. Any predictions on what the outcome will be?

Dermo123

Prediction lines are now closed

haunted

Its So Easy wrote: »

And the school is called Gaelscoil Gort Alainn(sp) yet it is currently in Montenotte / Murmont. Could someone explain that to me please ?

This thing about the address is nonsense, completely irrelevant to the issue and the fact that it keeps getting dragged up reveals some desperation IMO. Where does Montenotte/Murmont end and Mayfield begin? Does it matter? I live at the top of Gardiners Hill but some of my neighbours like to say they live in Montenotte. I have a child going to the school and two more that I would like to send there. I am far more concerned about sending my kids to a school that is in reasonable condition than I am in the schools address.

professore

haunted wrote: »

This thing about the address is nonsense, completely irrelevant to the issue and the fact that it keeps getting dragged up reveals some desperation IMO. Where does Montenotte/Murmont end and Mayfield begin? Does it matter? I live at the top of Gardiners Hill but some of my neighbours like to say they live in Montenotte. I have a child going to the school and two more that I would like to send there. I am far more concerned about sending my kids to a school that is in reasonable condition than I am in the schools address.

Yes this whole address thing is ridiculous. The English version of the school's name is MAYFIELD GAELSCOIL - where's the snobbery there ??????

I and most other sane parents are in favour of a modern school with the best facilities possible in our local area. If that is in Mayfield, Montenotte or Blackpool I really don't care - this school stands on it's own merits. I would like to know the POSITIVE reasons how not building the school there
will contribute to the local area - apart from losing 30% or so of the total area of the tank field for a school that will be of benefit to everyone there are no other negatives I can see especially since the same number of playing pitches will remain and the area will still be accessible to all - but would be interested to hear the other point of view.

professore

BanzaiBk wrote: »

I never said I felt hard done by. I've asked myself lots of questions on the matter, and honestly it won't effect me either way. However I have serious issues with the attitudes of people towards this, who are viewing it from their perspectives and their perspectives only, on both sides. I don't think a school will be a saving grace for the area, and I don't think it should go ahead in this particular area after the way it has been handled.

That's all well and good, but where will my children go in the meantime? People always view things from their perspective, as is their right. I have tried to see it from the other side, but try as I might, I can't see it. I have read all the answers here and heard Cllr. Tim Brosnan speak twice now, who to be honest made no sense whatsoever, but sorry, I can't see it. If I could see one convincing reason why the school should not be built there then I could try, but as yet have not heard one ... so please enlighten me. I'm not being facetious, I genuinely would like to hear the reasons.

professore

bill_ashmount wrote: »

Sense because it suits you?????

Even one of the councillors in the echo yesterday who has children attending the school said it was an attack on local democracy.

Well what would you say?

Tim Brosnan of course. It shows you how tolerant our school is.

anit1980

I am new to this forum and maybe a tad late in presenting my point of view, however seeing as there is a stronger than ever possiblity now that the school may go ahead i think i shall air my views!
i have being living in murmont road since the day i was born, the tank field is part of my life and my childhood, stil to this day i bring my own nieces and nephews up there to play.We as youths spent countless hours playing there and in our older years sitting and talking maybe pucking a sliotar around, but it was our place to go and enjoy ourselves. For young and old alike the field is there for all,you only have to walk past and see the enjoyment people get from the place and in an age where child obesity is on the increase and video games are the new football thats not a bad thing.
As a resident i have to stand firm in my opinion that the school should not be built there, the school was offered numerous other sites including a much larger site by mayfield community school and a site in rathcooney, this wasnt good enough for the parents and teachers in the school maybe becaue the address would no longer be Montenotte!
So as far as i can see its the snobbery of the parents who are keeping their children in these conditions, further to this the other school's in the area are finding it hard to get numbers such as St Patricks and Mayfield community, how does it make sense to build another school in the area?Gaelscoil OR NOT !
The fact that most of the children are from a one mile radius is also largely exaggerated,if you consider Whites Cross and further a one mile radius.

This brings me onto to the other issue of increased traffic and congestion.Passing the school in the mornings and finishing time is a complete nightmare, there are vehicles many of which are Suv's and jeeps parked up on the foothpaths and the grass the whole way down the road , its like they cant get close enough to the school, gone are the days of walking!on more than one occasion ive had careless drivers pull out in front of me without any thought or care. The parents also abandon their cars infront of residents drive ways without consideration.
The tank field is the only green area in the murmount/montenotte area why should the residents who have been there from the begining be forced to seek an alternative leisure area?
MAYBE THE PARENTS AND TEACHERS SHOULD HAVE TAKEN THE SITES OFFERED AND AVOIDED ALL THIS AGGRIVATION AND INCONVENIENCE.AS THEY ARE SAYING THEMSELVES THERES NO ONE SUFFERING ONLY THEIR CHILDREN!!

Ludo

It's beginning to look like the residents of Cork do not like schools (excuse the broad generalisation there). The proposed national school in Rochestown has been delayed due to a planning appeal by a local residents association now also. Typical. There isn't a primary school in the area and traffic SUCKS in Douglas as all the schools are there. So let's object to a new one as we don't want traffic on our road and continue to force everyone to drive their kids to Douglas instead of letting them walk to a local school.

Dermo123

anit1980 wrote: »

I am new to this forum and maybe a tad late in presenting my point of view, however seeing as there is a stronger than ever possiblity now that the school may go ahead i think i shall air my views!
i have being living in murmont road since the day i was born, the tank field is part of my life and my childhood, stil to this day i bring my own nieces and nephews up there to play.We as youths spent countless hours playing there and in our older years sitting and talking maybe pucking a sliotar around, but it was our place to go and enjoy ourselves. For young and old alike the field is there for all,you only have to walk past and see the enjoyment people get from the place and in an age where child obesity is on the increase and video games are the new football thats not a bad thing.
As a resident i have to stand firm in my opinion that the school should not be built there, the school was offered numerous other sites including a much larger site by mayfield community school and a site in rathcooney, this wasnt good enough for the parents and teachers in the school maybe becaue the address would no longer be Montenotte!
So as far as i can see its the snobbery of the parents who are keeping their children in these conditions, further to this the other school's in the area are finding it hard to get numbers such as St Patricks and Mayfield community, how does it make sense to build another school in the area?Gaelscoil OR NOT !
The fact that most of the children are from a one mile radius is also largely exaggerated,if you consider Whites Cross and further a one mile radius.

This brings me onto to the other issue of increased traffic and congestion.Passing the school in the mornings and finishing time is a complete nightmare, there are vehicles many of which are Suv's and jeeps parked up on the foothpaths and the grass the whole way down the road , its like they cant get close enough to the school, gone are the days of walking!on more than one occasion ive had careless drivers pull out in front of me without any thought or care. The parents also abandon their cars infront of residents drive ways without consideration.
The tank field is the only green area in the murmount/montenotte area why should the residents who have been there from the begining be forced to seek an alternative leisure area?
MAYBE THE PARENTS AND TEACHERS SHOULD HAVE TAKEN THE SITES OFFERED AND AVOIDED ALL THIS AGGRIVATION AND INCONVENIENCE.AS THEY ARE SAYING THEMSELVES THERES NO ONE SUFFERING ONLY THEIR CHILDREN!!

The spin you are putting on this is that all 11 acres of that open green area will be gone forever. If you read the previous messages or look at the detail of the planning itself 2.5 acres of the 11 acres will be taken up by the Gaelscoil. Two playing pitches will still remain. Access for the residents to this will still remain. I fail to see how you have established that your quality of life will be so badly effected that residents will have to "seek an alternative leisure area". Instead you resort to unsubstanciated claims that the teachers and parents motives is snobbery. You finish your mail will a shouting sentence by the use of block capitals by blaming the parents and teachers for the aggrovation when they have no role to play in the planning process and are merely spectators like yourself. We did not accept or reject any site. Take your ire out on the officials that kick started the tank field proposal in the first place. ie Tim Brosnan and Co. Your elected officials.

anit1980

Our quality of life is affected every day since those prefabs were put up inside Brian Dillons , i can well assure you that i am well up to date with the planning implications of this proposed school, as you i am equally entitled to air my views on this forum, whether it be in agreement or not with you and your opinions or written in block capitals, just because i choose to write without the use of every planning detail and figure doesnt mean that i am not a well informed on the matter.
It will be a loss of a leisure area for the people in the area, and whether you like it or not i wasnt the first person on this forum to refer to the "Montenotte" address issue, the simple fact is ye were offered other sites that would have been adequate and acceptable.
furthermore i am not a spectator in this matter i am a resident in the area and i as said in the begining entitled after 38 years to an opinion i believe!

Dermo123

Look it, I am not denying you your opinion. I just like to base my opinions on fact. Just because someone else on this message board says its those parents and teachers snobbery is the reason why planning was sought for the tank field does not make it fact. You can continue to make your opinion known all you like but if you don't have the facts to back up what you are saying then we are going nowhere with this discussion.
It is pointless putting all the heat on the parents and teachers as all they want is better facilities, you cannot blame them for that.

professore

Yes your childhood memories are far more important than our childrens education in a small corner of the field. A reasonable position to take.

anit1980 wrote: »

As a resident i have to stand firm in my opinion that the school should not be built there, the school was offered numerous other sites including a much larger site by mayfield community school and a site in rathcooney, this wasnt good enough for the parents and teachers in the school maybe becaue the address would no longer be Montenotte!

FALSE. All other sites were rejected by either An Bord Pleanala, the Dept. of Education, or both. This is the only site they all agreed on.

anit1980 wrote: »

So as far as i can see its the snobbery of the parents who are keeping their children in these conditions, further to this the other school's in the area are finding it hard to get numbers such as St Patricks and Mayfield community, how does it make sense to build another school in the area?Gaelscoil OR NOT !

FALSE. The school is there for years already and has no problem with numbers. Also its the only multidenominational gaelscoil in Cork.


The fact that most of the children are from a one mile radius is also largely exaggerated,if you consider Whites Cross and further a one mile radius.
FALSE. The vast majority of children come from less than a mile away.

This brings me onto to the other issue of increased traffic and congestion.Passing the school in the mornings and finishing time is a complete nightmare, there are vehicles many of which are Suv's and jeeps parked up on the foothpaths and the grass the whole way down the road , its like they cant get close enough to the school, gone are the days of walking!on more than one occasion ive had careless drivers pull out in front of me without any thought or care. The parents also abandon their cars infront of residents drive ways without consideration.

They have no choice. The new school provides for off street parking to alleviate this problem. Without this the footprint of the school would be 1/2 what is planned. And there are very few SUV's and jeeps.


The tank field is the only green area in the murmount/montenotte area why should the residents who have been there from the begining be forced to seek an alternative leisure area?
[/QUOTE]

** sigh *** FALSE again. There will still be plenty of amenity area remaining.

janice joplin

I am a new member to this forum and mayI as a first posting on this thread say that the 800 signatures received by the school were got by standing in shopping centres and asking every Tom Dick and Harry for a signature most people from what I have heard did not understand what they were signing for, its all very well to sign for a new school very comendable but at what cost to the residents in the area who by the way and for the record called around to every door in the vicinity to get an idea of public feeling,the Montenotte residents received over 200 signatures as did the Murmont residents which at a rough estimate came to almost 500 signatures I have been wanting to correct this inaccuracy for a long time and have done so verbally with many people,I will leave that little bit of info for anyone who is interested and over the coming weeks I will give this forum all the other inaccurate info thats doing the rounds.

Dermo123

So anyone know if the school is getting the funding to go ahead? With government departments pulling spending, it is likely that the money may not be there. The planning still stands though.

Flamed Diving

Nice leading questions you've got in that poll. BTW, there is precious little greenery in that part of the city, so I reckon it should be left as it is or developed into a proper park.

Dermo123

I would agree with developing a proper park there however there are a lot of people in the community that do not want it to be touched at all for any purpose. A playground apparently was stopped by local objectors. If there was a broad agreement on a park then I would support that. In the absence of that I think the school should go ahead as the field will be constantly targeted for other types of developement that would be far less beneficial.

Its So Easy

Not level playing field when it comes to new Gaelscoil

The struggle over the siting of a Gaelscoil raises serious questions about segregation in education, writes ELAINE BYRNE

‘SAVE THE Tank Field” is the rallying call of the posters on the telephone polls and hedgerows dotted in the Cork housing estates north of the river Lee, from Patrick’s Bridge up to St Luke’s into Dillons Cross, Mayfield and finally to Montenotte. So called because a large water tank serviced the immediate vicinity when houses were first built in the 1930s, the struggle for the Tank Field merits comparison with a John B Keane play.

The 2.5-acre field is the only open public green space in northeast Cork city and lies on the boundary between affluent Montenotte and working-class Mayfield. It seemed like any other field to me when I visited last week. Local primary schools were playing a football match and elderly people were walking their dogs. But a white line painted on the wall, denoting the proposed site for Gaelscoil Ghórt Álainn, makes this no ordinary field.

In November 2006, the local residents’ association was shocked to discover that Cork City Council had used its statutory powers in 2001 to acquire this field at a nominal cost without any prior consultation with the community.

The council then proposed to sell the land for €750,000 to the Department of Education for a new 16-classroom school for the Gaelscoil, which directly adjoins the Tank Field and has operated from temporary prefabs in the overflow car park of the local Brian Dillion’s GAA club since 1998.

In response, the 10 roads around the Tank Field each elected a representative to the Save our Tank Field campaign in 2006. Some three years later, this local campaign to save a community resource has found itself caught up in questionable decision-making processes by the Department of Education, An Bord Pleanála and Cork City Council.

In a joint letter to the Department of Education, five local school principals wrote of their “serious concern” about the €5 million proposal to build the Gaelscoil. The principals asked why the department was building a school in an area with a declining population (6.3 per cent fall between 1996 and 2006, according to Central Statistics Office figures). They also noted that the area was already serviced by nine primary schools within a 3km radius. In fact, a new school, Gaelscoil Uí Drisceoil, was established nearby in the past year.

The five principals starkly wrote that “a large Gaelscoil with attendant up-to-date resources will polarise the education community in an already deeply stratified community”. Their schools, they noted, were in band one of the Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools (Deis) programme.

Deis is a designated disadvantage-status programme for schools, which provides additional resources such as a school meals, a books grant scheme, reduced class sizes and other supports.

Gaelscoil Ghórt Álainn is not a designated disadvantage status school, which suggests that students currently enrolled in the Montenotte/Mayfield-located prefabs do not, in the main, come from households below the poverty threshold. The five principals were not consulted about this decision, nor was a meeting granted by the Department of Education to discuss their concerns.

Documentation received under the Freedom of Information Act also shows the department has not responded to a proposal by the nearby Mayfield GAA club to sell its excess land as a school site. And the department rejected a possible site on the grounds of Mayfield Community School, just 400m from the Tank Field, which incidentally has incredible resources of a kind that any school would be envious of, including a swimming pool, five basketball courts and a sports complex.

When I visited Roy Keane’s former school last week, substantial land attached to the school was underused. The school, designed for more than 800 students, has now fewer than 300 and could clearly accommodate the Gaelscoil at a much reduced cost, on an existing educational complex, without having to continue to pay rental for the prefabs.

But the Department of Education, it seems, is determined not to build the Gaelscoil in Mayfield. Instead, its decision to allocate €5 million of scare resources to build additional classrooms in an area with an already healthy supply of educational infrastructure will deprive residents of their only communal green space. Daft? It gets better. The department has paid rent to Brian Dillon’s GAA club since 1998 for the car-park space which the Gaelscoil prefabs lease. This land is not owned by the GAA club but the city council, which leases the land to the club at a nominal value. It is not known how much the department has paid the GAA club over the past 11 years. It is extraordinary, however, that a GAA club can profit by unknown sums of money through renting land to the State which is actually owned by the State.

During the course of their campaign, the local community discovered serious shortcomings in the planning process.

An Bord Pleanála overturned a decision by its own inspector to refuse planning permission because the board decided a Gaelscoil in Montenotte/Mayfield was of “strategic importance”. Although the residents successfully lobbied local politicians not to amend the Cork City Development Plan, which originally zoned the field for sports use, they remain unconvinced because the city manager has refused to meet them.

This might have started out about a field but it ends up asking serious questions about Department of Education’s policy on Gaelscoileanna and the incremental segregation of our education system.

on the 20th of October in the Irish Times.

Its So Easy

And just so noone gets upset and acuses me of being biased here is the schools repsonse.

Gaelscoil An Ghoirt Álainn

Fri, Oct 23, 2009
Madam, – Elaine Byrne, in her opinion piece in respect of Gaelscoil An Ghoirt Álainn in Cork (Opinion Analysis, October 20th), shows such disregard for balance, and demonstrates extreme selectivity and inaccuracy in relation to fact, that the piece may be described as a polemic rather than informed comment.
The article began by stating that the only public green space in the northeast of Cork city is the Tank Field. This is patently untrue. The site identified for the school comprises 2.5 acres of an 11-acre site. In so reporting, Dr Byrne was clearly relying on information supplied by one side of the debate only. Nobody among the broad spectrum of parents, teachers, politicians and, indeed, some neighbours in favour of the new building, was consulted. Nor were any of the factors in its favour canvassed. She neglects to mention that four of the five local councillors in the relevant ward voted in favour of this proposal at the planning stage.
The piece refers to the possible alternative siting of the Gaelscoil in the Mayfield Community School. This site was assessed and long since rejected by the Department of Education, on a number of grounds, including but not limited to child protection and welfare issues and health and safety concerns. Dr Byrne seeks to substitute her assessment of that proposal for that of others, almost certainly better qualified. Her fundamental misunderstanding of the geography of the area is further exposed by her statement that the school, if not placed in the community school, will not be built in Mayfield. This just does not make any sense. The Tank Field is in Mayfield. Gort Álainn is the Irish for Mayfield!
Other inaccuracies, in the areas of property law, planning law and just basic facts, lead one to believe that Dr Byrne has created a narrative to suit an agenda. Unfortunately facts often unhappily get in the way of narratives and, as such, are ignored. Journalism, and even opinion pieces, however, demand a balanced appraisal of facts with appropriate and considered conclusions.
This imprecision is compounded by the groundless slur intimating that the planning process was abused. Nothing was advanced in its support but for a suspicion on the part of those disappointed with the decision.
Segregation is a word that carries much baggage and evokes images of intolerance from other countries and, indeed, from this island. The use of this term in relation to a school of 290 students drawn from diverse backgrounds is pejorative, inaccurate and improper.
What Dr Byrne omitted to mention is that our school, as well as being a Gaelscoil, is the only multidenominational school in the area. As well as this, it is a non-fee-paying, co-educational, Irish-language school. It welcomes all who wish to educate their children in this ethos. No child has ever been refused entry to the school. It does not discriminate or segregate. Dr Byrne omitted these vital facts from her piece. The school conducts its classes in Irish, one of our two national languages recognised by the Constitution. It is unique in the area for all of these reasons.
Dr Byrne alludes to the presence of posters against the school development throughout Cork’s Northside, from Patrick’s Bridge to Montenotte. The only posters all too starkly witnessed by parents and children are in the immediate vicinity of the school.
Despite the impression given by the piece, this school has existed since 1993. In fact, it pre-dates schools also mentioned in the article. To suggest that the opinions of other schools should be canvassed in an application for a permanent building for an existing school lacks credibility. The school is currently located in a group of dilapidated buildings adjacent to the proposed new site. It was formed, and is maintained, by a group of parents and teachers who are enthusiastically behind the linguistic and spiritual ethos of the school. They are equally behind the building of the new school for the benefit of the children currently in the school and for those yet to come.
Interestingly, nowhere in her piece does the Dr Byrne refer to the children in the school, 75 per cent of whom live within a 1.5km radius thereof. Many reside in the “ten roads” beside the school referred to specifically by Dr Byrne.
One wonders why she found it unnecessary to talk to the children or their families. One wonders why a visit to the school was not made. Perhaps Dr Byrne might then have written of the appalling physical conditions in which children are being educated in post-boom Ireland. Perhaps she would have written of the spirit of inclusion in Gaelscoil An Ghoirt Álainn, of the diversity and innovation, of the possibilities for tolerance for children irrespective of their background. She chose not to.
The school is a success by reason of its positive contribution as opposed to arbitrary exclusion. It is not responsible for any purported lack of success of other schools in the area.
It is also too important to the children and the local area to be an ill-researched footnote to a flawed socio-political theory. – Yours, etc,
COLM HENRY and RACHEL O’TOOLE,
On behalf of the Board of
Management,
Gaelscoil An Ghoirt Álainn,
Mayfield,
Cork.
© 2009 The Irish Times

Its So Easy

Dr. Elaine Byrne's repsonse to her opinion piece which was published in the Irish times on the 20th of October 2009.

http://elaine.ie/?p=305

Having read through the thread. I apologise if I said things that I believed to be true at the time when they weren't. I live five minutes from the tank field and the moving of the pitch to allow for the building of the school would push it towards the pylons, that cross the area. This isn't fair to have kids playing near these high voltage pylons. I just feel that a suitable site should be found but that the tank filed should be left alone.