Cllr Christy O'Sullivan
Gaelscoil, Chloch na gCoillte.
Gaelscoil Chloch na gCoillte was founded in 1994 and since it’s inception, the school was accommodated in a variety of temporary locations. From November 1998, the school was involved in ongoing negotiations with the Department of Education to secure a permanent site for this rapidly expanding school. Finally, in September 2006, the Board of Manangement were officially informed by the OPW, that the Department of Education & Science had taken possession of the site at Beechgrove, Tawnies Lower, Clonakility for the construction of the new Gaelscoil. They were also informed by the Planning & Building Unit of the Department that the new Gaelscoil building project had been advanced to the planning and design stage.
It has taken 9 years to arrive at this stage since the Gaelscoil was granted official Department recognition in 1997.
To ensure that the new Gaelscoil plan & design be executed, it is essential that the project be included in the Dept. of Education’s School Building & Modernisation Programme for 2007. To date the Department has paid out more than 1.3 million euro for temporary accommodation. The Board of Management recently paid out some 60,000 euro to various contractors for repairs to classrooms, corridors, roofs etc. to alleviate problems of water ingress & vermin infestation.
In February of this year, Cllr. Christy O’Sullivan, Fianna Fáil candidate for Cork South West, took advantage of a visit to Leinster House to meet unofficially with Minister Mary Hanafin and present to her the concerns of both parents and Board of Management. In her latest correspondence she stated “The building project required to deliver the new school will be progressed in the context of the multi annual School Building and Modernisation Programme.”
The school currently accommodates 111 families with 230 students on the roll.