Kildare County Council rules out school warden despite recent accident

Kildare County Council has ruled out employing a school warden(s) to patrol two Maynooth, Co Kildare primary schools, despite there having been a road traffic accident recently involving a schoolchild.

A joint motion by Cllrs Tim Durkan (FG) and William Durkan (FG) at a recent MD meeting called on KCC to make school wardens available on Celbridge Road, Maynooth “as a matter of urgency given a recent accident.”

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Speaking at the meeting, Cllr Tim Durkan said he would first like to acknowledge the work carried out by KCC and the NTA (National Transport Authority) over the past month in relation to the issue.

A number of weeks ago, he explained, a young girl was knocked down at the location, and while he fully accepted she did not cross the road at a signalised crossing point, he said one must remember she is a primary-level schoolchild.

Cllr Durkan said he would ask that “some dispensation is made” towards providing a school warden at this location, given that there are two primary schools, with a combined student population of almost 850 students.

Hearing about another accident was not something he wished for in the future, he said, and asked that some provision be made for a “very special set of circumstances” that have occurred in recent times.

Also speaking on the joint motion, Cllr William Durkan said that given that public consultation will occur in September, it would be “very appropriate” to have acted in the interim to put a traffic warden in place on Celbridge Road, Maynooth.

He appreciated, he said, that it is the council's position not to provide traffic wardens where there is a signalised crossing, but the frequency that the issue has come up over the last number of weeks makes it “a special case.”

He said it would be great to put a traffic warden in place, until more long-term provisions can be made.

Responding to councillors, a council official stated that installing a school warden at the location would be “a transient solution to a permanent issue.”

There was also a challenge from Kildare County Council's perspective in relation to other schools which do not have a signalised crossing, he said, who might feel they have an equal reason for making a special case for them.

The official confirmed, however, that KCC has requested that An Taisce Green Schools visit both schools in the next academic year, with the view to providing education for students, parents and teachers, and to include the gardai also.

The official also noted that one of the schools is on the supplementary list for Safe Routes to Schools.

Cllr Tim Durkan requested that the matter be left on the meeting's progress report, so that it might be revisited at the next meeting of the MD.