Funds of €15,000 for a new school library may have to be diverted to provide security
By Mary Dennehy
MORE than €15,000 fundraised by the community of Killinarden for Scoil Caitlin Maude’s first-ever library could be swallowed up by security costs – after the CE scheme which provided security staff was pulled.
Scoil Caitlin Maude has never had its own home and for the past three decades has been operating out of substandard prefabs and borrowed space from neighbouring schools Knockmore Junior and Senior.
While this didn’t stop the school from growing into a vibrant part of the Killinarden community, it did put pressure on pupils, teachers and parents who tirelessly campaigned over the past three decades for a permanent home.
However, the community’s dedication paid off when work commenced last year on a two-storey, 18-room, €3.5 million school on land adjacent to Hazelgrove estate in Killinarden – with plans in place to move pupils in this May.
While this is a positive move for the school, concerned parents this week contacted The Echo over a lack of security for the building when it opens – after the community employment scheme which provided security personnel was pulled.
One parent told The Echo: “Here we are with a state-of-the-art school and no way of protecting it.
“We have been fighting for this school for years and now we have it and millions has been invested and we have no security.
“For the past year parents have been fundraising to kit out the new school library, which is the first library Caitlin Maude has ever had, and now all of this money could be diverted into paying for security.
“A lot of work went into raising that €15,000 and we have more fundraising activities in the pipeline.
“People are devastated and really deflated that all of that money may now go to paying for security because the CE scheme, which worked really well, has been pulled.”
The Echo understands that a further €500,000 will be invested into kitting out the school over the coming months, with security needed not only to protect that investment but to ensure that extra-curricular activities for both young people and members of the wider community can take place in the school during the evenings.
The CE scheme is run locally by the Killinarden Parish Community Employment Scheme, which The Echo understands was advised by the Department of Social Protection to cease the provision of security personnel to schools.
When contacted by The Echo, a spokeswoman for the Department of Protection said: “The question of providing security for schools is a matter for the schools themselves or in consultation with the Department of Education and Skills.”
She added that schools are not included anymore in the Community Employment schemes.
However, a spokeswoman for the Department of Education and Skills told The Echo that the day-to-day running of a school, including security, is a matter for the Board of Management.
Management at Scoil Caitlin Maude is currently examining security solutions for the new school when it opens this May, with The Echo being told that “security has to be found despite the drain on resources”.
Parish priest Father Manus Ferry, who is the chair of the Killinarden Parish Community Employment Scheme, said: “I’d be very supportive of the school’s need for some type of protection and I have spoken with parents in recent days and would be supportive of their position.”
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