Long wait is over for St Mary’s School in Virginia

Sean McMahon?

Little did the pupils and teaching staff at St Mary’s Primary School know on Tuesday of last week when the President of the INTO Brendan O’Sullivan visited to raise their third Green Flag, that the very next day, good news about funding for their long-awaited, ten-room extension would be announced.

It followed a long and concerted campaign by teachers, parents, the board of management and politican representatives for the upgrade of accommodation at the school for its 389 pupils and 20 teachers. Some 220 pupils are being educated between eleven portacabins on site, at an estimated rental cost of over €80,000 per year.

The welcome news came on Wednesday of last week jointly from the Minister for Education, Ruairi Quinn and the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Brendan Howlin as part of a €150m investment programme nationally in school building, house insulation and road building. The good news was delivered locally by Fine Gael Deputy Joe O’Reilly who said he was delighted for the school.

'I know that the school has been waiting a very long time for funding for their badly-needed extension and thankfully, we are able to bring that long wait to an end.'

Describing the St Mary’s project as a 'shovel ready one', Deputy O’Reilly said that delays are not expected and work should begin very soon. 'I understand that the Department of Education will be in contact with the school over the coming days to put final arrangements in place for the completion of the project,' he said congratulating all of those in bringing the project to fruition including the Board of Management, led by Fr Dermot Prior and principal, Peadar Quealy. The new extension will incorporate some ancillary rooms, the existing six classrooms will be upgraded and there will be ten new rooms. There is plenty of place on site for the extension and Peadar Quealy revealed that the parish is also giving them the use of a field for a play ground.

Responding to the news, Mr Quealy said: 'We are thrilled and we now hope that we can get our extension built as quickly as possible. We are now going forward and we will keep progressing the project as fast as we can.'

Mr Quealy said they applied for their first extension in April, 2004. 'We have been waiting for this day for nine years. We had a few setbacks. This great news and it is badly required for the primary school pupils in the Virginia area. It is what the pupils deserve.'

The principal too had a large list of thank yous that included parents who sat on committees over the years and the politicians who put pressure on for government funding.

INTO president, Brendan O’Sullivan, was in the school on Tuesday of last week to raise the school’s third green flag. He too was happy with the good news when contacted by the Celt the following day.

'We now welcome the fact that the school is going to get the extension that had been promised for nine years. This is exactly the kind of project the Government should be engaged in – it generates money in the local economy.

'These are the facilities that the schools deserve to provide the kind of quality education that they are providing - an example of which is the Green School initiative. There are a whole range of things going on in schools and they need these facilities to promote the broad based curriculum,' said Mr O’Sullivan, himself a County Cavan native from Belturbet.

'This kind of build makes sense on a number of fronts from the point of view of employment and the development of the local community and also from the point of view from the lack of waste on renting prefabs on a year to year basis, where you never own the structure,' he added.