Parents and children in Ballinteer have had to walk long distances every day this winter while waiting for school footpaths to reopen.
John, who asked Dublin Live to withhold his real name, told us he and his two children have had to walk for 20 minutes while using an alternative route to Ballinteer Educate Together National School while builders are doing ground works. The concerned parent says it was especially difficult for his “exhausted” young children during the cold blasts this winter as they have to walk on a frozen path.
John said he’s seen young mothers pushing baby strollers on the frozen path while sending their older children off to school. He told Dublin Live: “We are all exhausted. Both children and parents are tired. I work from home, so I have to go out three times a day and that breaks my concentration and then I have to work longer in the afternoon.”
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He, along with some other parents who have children in different classes and who don’t own a car, need to walk this trek up to three times a day. They were all told back in September last year that all entrances would be open in a month, John claims, and until then they had to use alternative ways. However, he hasn’t seen any progress in months.
“It seems like nobody cares," he said. "That's terrible. It's been going on for five months.” John stressed that his family was otherwise very happy with the school and he thinks the only thing at fault is “bureaucracy”.
We chatted to the principal of the school who agreed that while the two currently open paths are “quite spread out at the moment”, permeability and access for everyone will be improved in the long-term once the construction is completed. “It takes as long as it takes," he said. "And the builders have large jobs to do across the whole site.”
Meanwhile, the two paths that used to be open before are currently closed for safety reasons. The Wyckham Way pedestrian entrance wouldn't be safe to open until the ground works are finished since there's builders and machinery there at the moment, while the old Wyckham laneway is currently covered in dog faeces and rubbish.
The principal also stressed that the school and the board of management isn't responsible for the work, which is being carried out on the behalf of the Department of Education.
“We'll be given the path where it's completed, but we can't make it happen any faster. We've raised the issue with the Department of Education and with the builders, and we've always kept parents informed. If we get a new deadline for when the work is likely to be finished – and I'm told April – we will communicate it to the parents.”
“There's a huge amount of development going on there at the moment,” said Cllr Jim O’Leary who is aware of the issue. “It's a brand new school. It has to be finished on the inside and on the outside there's a sports hall being built, there's an all weather pitch being built, new pathways, new roads. And the work continues.”
As for the new entry point, he said: “The council have said that the path has to be widened for safety reasons. It would be dangerous to have people on bicycles and people walking their children's school on a narrow path.
“What's unfortunate is that because one path has to be widened and there's a lot of equipment in and on, in and around the school, it was felt that it wouldn't be safe to open up the other access point yet. So until they can open both, they're gonna keep them both shut and that'll be till about April. “
Dublin Live has contacted the Department of Education for a comment.
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