€29,500 awarded to Mayo school following successful appeal

FOLLOWING an appeal, funding of €29,500 has been awarded to St Oliver Plunkett NS (Quay NS), Ballina.

Welcoming the news, Senator Michelle Mulherin said: “I am delighted that St Oliver Plunkett National School has been awarded €29,500 following a successful appeal of an earlier decision by the Department of Education and Skills to refuse funding. The money makes up a shortfall in building costs for an extension to the school.

“I have been working closely with the school in recent years to secure funding for the provision of additional accommodation for mainstream classrooms and resource rooms.

“This school has seen a large increase in enrolment in recent years which has resulted in the need for new classrooms to cater for the expanding numbers and extra staff, as well as for rooms for resource teachers. The Department approved funding totalling €189,000 since 2015 to provide this accommodation.

“Due to the physical constraints of the existing building, some changes had to be made that resulted in the loss of a classroom, which, in turn, had to be built elsewhere. This was unavoidable and resulted in the costs rising to €218,500. Unfortunately, the application for the shortfall of €29,500 was refused by the department.

“When assessing the application for €29,500, the department failed to consider the cost savings to it as a result of the school pursuing the avenue it did. Had the only other alternative — a stand-alone building — been built, the costs as calculated by the Department’s own criteria, would have been considerably higher.

“I have been working intently on this issue since I met with the principal, Hugh Lynn, and members of the board of management, when I visited the school to view the situation first hand in the back end of last year. I didn’t hesitate in bringing the issue to the attention of the Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy Joe McHugh.

“This school has an excellent reputation for the high quality of education it provides and it serves a large and growing community. This has resulted in increasing numbers of school-goers in recent years. I am pleased to have been in a position to bring this project over the finishing line by getting this funding application approved.”