Please see below a statement from Educate Together in relation to school reassignment in Portobello / Basin Lane
Educate Together notes the media reports of the advanced stage of the negotiations between the Department of Education and Skills and the Edmund Rice School Trust over the vacant school building in Basin Lane, James’ Street Dublin 8.
We are very appreciative of the help that we have received from the Catholic Archdiocese of Dublin in our efforts to meet the needs of parents in the Dublin 8 area.
We understand that a rationalisation of schools in Basin Lane has been agreed. We have been told that this will release a school building for an Educate Together school to open this September. The issue is now with the Department and the property owners.
We are also very appreciative of the goodwill displayed towards Educate Together from the local schools and within the local community. Educate Together schools pride themselves on their community relations and the positive way that they work with schools of different patronage. Our schools routinely make facilities available outside school hours and at weekends and during the school holidays. We regularly work with parent groups, pre-schools, after-school clubs, sports organisations, adult education classes and faith groups. Once we are sanctioned to open the school, we look forward to engaging with local groups to see how such cooperation can develop.
In case there is any doubt about the need for this development, we have at present a list of over 400 children needing a place in an Educate Together school in this general area and a significant number of these families live within walking distance from Basin Lane. Parents have been campaigning for such provision in this part of Dublin city for over three years.
