Government 'failing the children of Kildare' when it comes to schools provision, Cllr says

With reportedly the most overcrowded primary schools in the republic, it is perhaps understandable why a Maynooth Labour councillor and former educator has claimed that the government is “failing the children of Kildare.”

According to Cllr Angela Feeney, Kildare primary schools consist of 56% overcrowded classrooms – with class sizes in Ireland in general being the largest in the EU.

The problem, she says, lies both in a rapidly growing population, and in a lack of forward planning on behalf of the Government.

“The classrooms are really overcrowded, and this is terrible because we know from all the research that children who are in larger classes are not getting the same quality education. When you think about it, if a teacher has 20 students in front of her, or another teacher has 40 students in front of her or him, they can't give the same attention to those children”, Cllr Feeney says.

“And this is primary we're talking about, where children are at their most formative years, they need that extra bit of attention and it's just sad to think that there's huge population growth in Kildare and all these children are going into classrooms that are getting more and more overcrowded every year. And to think that we have the most overcrowded classrooms in Kildare is just, to me it's shocking, and it's unacceptable.”

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According to Cllr Feeney, the government has stated that classroom sizes in primary schools nationally has dropped to an average of 22 students, while in Kildare “it's still 30 and more”, which she says is “disgraceful.”

“I'm talking regularly to principals and parents who are so frustrated because they move into an area, they're told on the glossy brochure that there's enough schools in the area to cope with the thousands of families moving into the area, and then they go to join the school and they're being told they're being put on a waiting list.

“It's not the schools' fault, the schools can only take so many, but it's just really bad planning.”

Cllr Feeney, who is an active member of local lobby group Kildare North SEN, keenly feels for parents of children with special education needs in particular, who she says face inordinate waiting lists for their primary school aged children.

Those parents lucky enough to secure a school place for their children, she explains, often have to send them to schools outside of the county, away from siblings and friends.

So how can the problem of primary school provision in Kildare be resolved?

“It's as simple as, we need more schools. You need to do the forward planning when planning permissions go into the council, they know there's going to be thousands of families moving into those new estates. So you just have to forward plan.

“And in fairness to the council, we've been through a County Development Plan, we've been through a Maynooth Local Area Plan, and they have designated sites for schools. The sites and the land is there, what's needed is for the Department to put money into building those schools because the sites are provided for.

“If we don't plan now, the growth is going to continue and the projected population growth for Kildare North is huge. It's only going to get worse, and it just saddens me as someone who has worked in education all my life it's something I'm particularly passionate about because I know how important it is.

“If you lose out on your educational years, the knock-on effect for the future of those children really has a negative impact.”