For more than two decades, pupils and teachers at Scoil an Chroí Naofa in Ballinasloe have been waiting for a new school building.

After many false dawns and broken commitments, staff at the school have issued a plea to the Minister for Education to finally fund the development – and to provide the children of Ballinasloe with the school that they deserve.

Condemned to a crumbling stone building constructed in the 1930s, and a second ‘temporary’ building across a busy road that was developed in the 1970s, Principal of the school Christine O’Connor said it was a daily struggle to function in facilities that were inadequate and unsafe.

“We just seem to be going around in circles for 15 or 16 years and not getting anywhere.

“We have children in the school whose parents attended the school when there was a promise of a new building,” said Ms O’Connor.

While the Department has recognised the need for a new school and pushed forward with planning permission for a new building, the plans have never come to fruition.

In 2016, the Department issued a letter confirming that the new school would go to development in 2017 but the process hit a stumbling block when it was determined that building regulations had changed, and that the proposals for which planning permission was granted were, by that time, outdated.

“Planning permission had to be resubmitted,” she explained, and while it was granted, this later timed out as the project never advanced to construction.

In 2023, a new application for planning permission for the demolition of the 1970s building and the construction of a two-storey state-of-the-art school, was granted but, more than to years later, the contract for its development has still not gone to tender.

Throughout this time, the existing structures have continued to deteriorate. Staff and pupils are left sitting in buildings with crumbling walls, leaking roofs and spiralling energy costs as they try to stay warm in uninsulated buildings – and are being put at risk by having to cross a busy main road between the two sites.

“The temporary building has single-block walls. Our entire capitation grant goes on energy costs and as the prices go up, it’s not even covering the cost.

“We are a DEIS Band 1 primary school with some of the most vulnerable children in our community in the school,” said Ms O’Connor, and the continued failure of the Department to deliver on its commitments for the school’s almost 300 pupils and 32 teachers was simply not good enough.

“We have a great staff who give so much for the children in really tough conditions. The buildings we have are not fit for purpose and they’re letting us down,” she continued.

A detailed design for the new building was submitted in March 2025 but the that has still not been approved for construction and Ms O’Connor said they were pleading with Minister Helen McEntee to provide the final sign off.

In July, Government announced a capital allocation of over €7.5 billion for the Department of Education, which was due to be divvied up this month.

“We are pleading with the Minister not to forget about us,” said the school’s principal, referring to the allocation of these funds..

The proposed new school would allow them to deliver a 21st century education in modern classrooms that would allow the children to “learn, grow and dream big”.

“We have one autism class at the minute, in a prefab, but in the new school, we would have capacity for two classes with a sensory room.

“We would have two special classes for children with developmental language delay,” said Ms O’Connor.

The school community was holding out all hope that the Minister and Department would bring an end to their years-long wait and announce the necessary funding this month, she said, and to bolster their campaign, they have started an online petition “to send a clear message to the decision-makers”.

“We have been in contact with all the local politicians and representatives and they are supporting us.

“We really are hoping it makes a difference, our local campaign. We just need to get it to that next stage – for it to go to tender.

“It should all move quite quickly after that,” said Ms O’Connor.

The petition can be signed by searching for ‘change.org Build Our School: Scoil an Chroí Naofa’ online.

Pictured: No move…Scoil an Chroí Naofa in Ballinasloe.