• Family of one child: €95
• Family of two children: €180 (€95 & €85)
• Family of three children: €265 (€95, €85, €85)
• Family of four children: €350 (€95, €85, €85, €85)

Fees include €25 for Arts & Crafts and €15 for photocopying/resources and the covering of books (€40).

Book rental fees may be paid in installments of your choice to Suzanne in the office. However please have at least half of your fees paid by Friday the 27h of April, as school books for the coming year will have to be ordered as soon as possible. Fees should be paid in full by June 1st.

Parents who wish to buy their own books must let the office know before the end of April, so that the correct number of books may be ordered. Also if you are purchasing your own books, an Arts & Crafts fee of €25 and a €15 for photocopying per child must be paid to the office. When this is paid you will then receive your booklist in May. However those who do not pay will not receive their lists. It is very important that all fees for Arts & Crafts and photocopying are paid as each class will be allocated this money per child paid.

If you have any queries please do not hesitate to come to me any afternoon after school. Thank you for your co-operation.

Mise le meas,
Múinteoir Caitríona
(Teacher in charge of ordering school books)

• News at One @ WLRfm (WLRfm.com)
• Minister for Education & Skills Visits Tramore (TCRfm.ie)

A full catalog of these and all other articles covering the campaign are available on the Media Articles section of the school website.

The Minister explained that the DES is building many schools throughout the country but afterwards at a meeting with the Board of Management and Parents representatives he advised that the school continue with dhb Architects to design and seek planning permission for a permanent building. If funding becomes available then the project may go to tender.

The Principal, Daithí de Paor, asked that the length of time that schools are waiting for permanent accommodation be factored in to decisions by the DES to progress projects.

Finally the Chairperson of the BOM, Sean Breathnach, asked that the Minister return to open our new school when it is built. Minister Quinn accepted the invitation.

We are grateful to Ciara Conway TD who has arranged the visit to highlight the school’s disappointment at our omission from the Department’s Five year Building Programme. We will use the occasion to impress upon the Minister that our 27 year wait for a permanent building is unjust and and indeed a scandal.

Pupils from 6th class will hold a question and answers session with him and he will then be shown around the school. He will meet with a delegation from the Board of Management and John Breen, Chairperson of the Parents Association.

The Taoiseach spoke in Irish with Daithí and asked how long the school was in temporary accommodation. He showed particular interest in the school’s name. Daithí told him of the school community’s frustration at being excluded from the DES’s five year building list having been in temporary accommodation for 27 years. The Taoiseach accepted a letter from Daithí and opened it and read part of it promising to raise the matter with the Minister for Education, Ruairí Quinn, at his next meeting with him when he returns from China. He said that he could not guarantee any result as many schools had said that they were not being fairly treated and indeed schools in his constituency had not been included in this list.

We are very happy that the Taoiseach has noted our case and that he will make representations on our behalf. Daithi’s letter can be accessed here.

In total, we managed to procure a staggering 1,171 letters and these are now on their way to the Minister’s office.

It has been a difficult couple of weeks for those of us closely involved in the campaign for a permanent building but thanks to the people of Tramore, Waterford and beyond, we are re-energized and even more determined than ever to give our children a school they can be proud of.

• Parents Push the Envelope (Tramore Hinterland, 22 March 2012)
• Gaelscoil’s Kick in the Teeth (Waterford News & Star, 22 March 2012)
• Out in the Cold (Munster Express, 21 March 2012)

These, and many other historical articles are available to view on the Media section of the website.

• Gaelscoil Postal Protest

This, and all other press releases are available to view from the Press Releases page of the school website.

Dear Parent,

The omission last week of Gaelscoil Philib Barún from the Department of Education and Skills’ five-year primary school building programme is unacceptable. The Parent’s Association of Gaelscoil Philib Barún is therefore launching a mass postal protest campaign this week. We need your help in order for this campaign to be successful.

On Wednesday, 21 March 2012, each child will bring home five identical letters and five envelopes. We would like everyone in your household (children and adults) to sign a copy of these letters, adding your address to each copy, and return them to the school in the envelopes provided. Feel free to have extended family, friends and neighbours sign additional copies also. If you have stamps to hand please use them, but if not the Parent’s Association will stamp the letters on your behalf.

Please aim to returned the signed letters to the school by Friday, 23rd March 2012.

Our aim is to deliver 1,000 letters to the Minister of Education next Monday expressing our outrage. The department is obliged to respond to each of these letters.

Download protest letter here.

Regards,
John Breen
Chairperson,
Parents’ Association

Source: Irish Times

Attendees

Paudie Coffey TD; John Halligan TD; Ciara Conway TD; Senator David Cullinane; Councillor Joe Conway

Apologies

Maxine Keoghane, Mayor of Tramore; John Deasy TD

Meeting Summary

All gathered were welcomed by the Principal, Daithi de Paor, on behalf of the Board of Management. He stated that the school community was greatly disappointed by the school’s omission from the DES list for school building projects to go to construction over the next five years. It was ironic, he said, that this week the school was informed that architects had been finally appointed to design and build a Gaelscoil at Crobally Upper.

John Halligan, TD, said that he had met the Minister Ruairí Quinn on the matter during the week and he did not seem to be aware of the circumstances pertaining to the school.

Paudie Coffey spoke and stated his longstanding support for the school’s struggle for a permanent building going back to when he raised it in the Seanad in 2008. He was disappointed that the school was not include in the list but did not feel that this could be reversed. The school might be included in the list at a later date if a project failed to progress.

Ciara Conway stated that she was personally connected with the school as she had attended Naíonra Philib Barún. She said the Minister was aware of the school’s circumstances.

Senator David Cullinane said he had raised the matter in the Seanad on Tuesday last and would do so again the following week.

John Kindlon, Principal of Holy Cross school citing the ESRI report on school buildings and the unsuitability of prefabricated classrooms.

Councillor Joe Conway reiterated his support for the school community in its struggle to get a permanent building.

A number of parents spoke and expressed anger and disgust at the treatment of the school by the Minister and his department. Among the speakers were: Donagh Ward; Nelly Cuddihy; John Hayes; Jim Heylin; Aideen Lynch; Jonathan Moore; Elaine Kelly

Caitríona Ní Chuirrín, spoke on behalf of the staff and cited the practical difficulties with teaching in a prefab.

Two pupils, Lumi Kanwei and Finn O’Connor read a letter written by the 6th class outlining their objections to prefabs. Finn remarked on the size of the newly built hall in Holy Cross NS where he had recently visited.

The meeting concluded with a joint undertaking by the attending public representatives to ask the Minister, Ruairi Quinn to meet with them and a delegation from the school as soon as possible.

The plan can be seen here.

The Board of Management will hold an extraordinary meeting on Tuesday morning (13 March 2012) to discuss this latest setback. The following email has also been sent to local TDs. and we encourage parents to lobby their local representatives on this matter as quickly as possible.

A Theachta, a chara,

The Minister’s announcement of the DES five year programme today has deeply disappointed us. We are about to announce this week the appointment of architects and design team for a new school only to learn that Gaelscoil Philib Barún will not be built for at least 5 years. Madness!!!!!!

The Board Management wishes to meet with you at your earliest convenience to convey our disappointment and anger to you and to ask you to make immediate representation on our behalf.

There are schools on Minister Quinn’s list that have yet to be established yet a school waiting 27 years is at too premature a planning stage to be included!!!

This site is owned by the DES. It has outline planning obviously for a school. There are no impediments to immediate construction. At a meeting with the DES in January we were given to understand that there were no reasons to delay the quick progression of the project through the planning phases.
Waterford will have the Gaelscoil longest in temporary accommodation.
Gaelscoil Riada in Galway, set up 2006, to go to construction 2014
Gaelscoil Chaladh an Treoigh, Limerick, founded 2001, goes to construction 2013

Is mise le brón agus diomá,

Daithí de Paor
Príomhoide,
Gaelscoil Philib Barún

The firms are all located within the South of Ireland and include:

• Architects: dhb Architects (Waterford)
• Civil/Structural Engineer: Martin Peters Associates (Kilkenny)
• Mechanical/Eletrical Engineer: Matt O’Mahony & Associates (Cork)
• Quantity Surveyor: Nolan Construction Consultants (Waterford)
• PSDP: Hayes Higgins Partnership (Kilkenny)

The official appointment letter can be viewed here.

In particular, the support of other concerned has been requested at a public meeting to be held at the Civic Offices in Dungarvan on Monday, 13th February 2012. The purpose of this meeting is explained in the following letter received from the Chairperson of the Parent’s Association of Villierstown NS.

Dear Teacher/Parent/Guardian,

As I am sure you are well aware, this country is in the grips of the worst recession in the history of the State. Cut after cut is being imposed upon us, taxes piled on and prices rising ever higher. All of this is taking its toll on us as a nation, but alas we are being told it is our own fault and we all have to swallow this bitter medicine, yet education and health are to bear the brunt of this.

However bad this country is economically, it is no excuse to lump the bill at the feet of our children. It is not fair that Minister Quinn is trying to cut €70 million from the education budget this year alone, but €140 million next year and €220 million the year after that! Not one child in the country is to blame for this farce, yet they are the ones that will suffer the most. Why doesn’t the Minister first look elsewhere within Leinster House to cut some budgets?

Having spoken to other primary schools and parents associations around Co. Waterford earlier today (31/01/12) it is clear that people are very angry and scared for their children’s future. We need to make our voices heard so as a result we are organising a protest about these cuts at the next meeting of Waterford County Council. Even if your school is not directly affected by these cuts we need to stand together, shoulder to shoulder, to help those who are affected and facing a bleak future.

CIVIC OFFICES, DUNGARVAN, CO.WATERFORD MONDAY 13TH FEBRUARY @ 2:00pm

This is the next scheduled date and time of the next sitting of Waterford County Council. Please show your support for those who badly need it.

Regards,
Damien Landers, Chairperson, Villierstown NS Parents Association

Muinteoir Caitriona

Well done again and thank you!

To this end, we would very much appreciate your support for the upcoming Food & Wine Tasting Evening next Wednesday, 14 December 2011. Tickets available in the school office (or at the door) for just €8.

We would also like to remind parents that the monthly Parent’s Association meetings are open to anyone to attend, and additional support in the form of volunteers for our various events is always very welcome. At present, there is only a small group of parents (less than 6) who regularly attend, but it would be far more preferable to have a larger pool of volunteers to call upon so that the same core group do not have to continually give their time to organise each and every event. So if you think you can help in an way at all, please feel free to contact us for additional information.

Session 1 – Admission Free!

Junior & Senior Infants and Rang 1 shows will take place in Rang 4 (just inside main door) from 12pm – 2pm, as follows:

• Junior Infants: 12:00pm
• Senior Infants: 12:45pm
• First Class: 1:30pm

Session 2 – Admission Free!

Shows from Rang 2-6 will take place at Stella Maris Hall from 6:30pm – 8:30pm, as follows:

• Class 2: 6:30pm
• Class 3: 7:00pm
• Class 4: 7:20pm
• Class 5: 7:45pm
• Class 6: 8:00pm

Raffle

Tickets for the raffle will cost €3 per strip, or 2 strips for €5. The draw for the raffle will take place after the final show in Session 2.