Campaigners in Ballinasloe have appealed to Minister for Education Hildegarde Naughton to urgently prioritise the long‑awaited construction of a new primary school for the town, a project they say is now the longest‑running school building project in the country.
For more than two decades, the school community of Scoil an Chroí Naofa has been seeking to advance plans for a new school building through the Planning and Building Unit of the Department of Education in Tullamore.
The DEIS Band 1 primary school has a staff of 32 teachers and 300 pupils, and caters for some of the most vulnerable children in the area who face educational disadvantage.
Almost a month after a much anticipated visit from Santa Claus, Alianna Corcoran, a fifth‑class pupil, shared what topped her Christmas wish list: "Santa, we have been waiting for over 24 years for a new school. Even though I'm in fifth class, I probably won't benefit from the new school myself. I would like my younger brothers, sisters and cousins to learn in a nicer school building."
Located on Society Street, Scoil an Chroí Naofa operates across two buildings on opposite sides of a busy main road, requiring pupils to regularly cross between campuses for lessons and recreational activities via a pedestrian crossing.
Principal Christine Connor said safety concerns have been ongoing for years.
"We've had a few near misses over the years. We've been very lucky that nothing serious has happened. Some of the children in the special class who may be a flight risk, if you want to bring them over to the hall for PE or over to the yard, and if something happens that they get a bit distressed or whatever, you're trying to cross the main road and get them back to safety," she explained.
She also highlighted the deteriorating condition of the school buildings and temporary prefab classrooms.
"One building was built in the 1970s as a temporary structure. There's no insulation, single block and single pane windows, and that building is to be demolished to make way for the new school building.
"And across the road then, the other building was built in 1937. Our capitation grant entirely is going on energy costs for the school … it's not sustainable," Ms Connor said.
The need for a new building was first identified in 1996, following the amalgamation of the town's boys’ and girls’ primary schools. A design team was appointed in 2001, but despite multiple revisions, delays and resubmissions, the project has yet to reach tender or construction stage.
Ms Connor believes the school now holds an unenviable record.
"[In] 2016, we got a letter from the department to say that we would go to construction that year and still no new building here. 2019 in the Irish Independent, there were four schools at that point that were the longest running building projects. I think our own school now holds the record for the longest running building project in the country."
We need your consent to load this rte-player contentWe use rte-player to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences
Parents have described their deep frustration at the lack of progress.
"When I was in 6th class, Christine, the current principal, was my teacher. And I remember from a young age, we were told we were going to be getting a new school ... I left the school 22 years ago and we're still getting the same thing of we're going to have a new school," said parent Sharon Jones.
Another parent, Siobhán Monaghan, said conditions have become unacceptable: "It's actually systematic failure at this stage. Like our kids are sitting in classrooms, they're freezing cold. Like nobody in this day and age should be cold while they're in school."
Parent Mike Day appealed for direct intervention from the Galway West TD and Minister for Education Hildegarde Naughton: "Now is the time for our Minister of Education to engage with us. Just help us."
One third of the school’s pupils come from the Traveller community, with 21 nationalities represented in the student body. As a DEIS Band 1 school, Scoil an Chroí Naofa plays a critical role in supporting pupils at risk of educational disadvantage.
Karen Kinneavy, School Completion Programme Co-ordinator for Ballinasloe and Athlone, said inadequate space is affecting the delivery of support services: "We're sitting in corners of the stage or at the back of the hall where people are passing through all the time. We're always getting out of somewhere to let somebody else in.
"Like I came here in 2006, I came down from Dublin, I moved down here. It was like walking back in time when I came into this school. It felt like I was reading Angela's Ashes. Here we are 20 years later and the building has not changed."
Úna Murphy, Family Support Co-ordinator with Ballinasloe Social Services, said disadvantage in the town is often hidden in official statistics: "I suppose when you look at our most recent census, Ballinasloe is classified as marginally below average in the deprivation scale, it really does mask significant pockets of deprivation in the town, so much so that in that census, the small area of highest disadvantage in the whole country is here in Ballinasloe."
In 2023, planning permission was granted for the demolition of the 1970s building and the construction of a two‑storey, 16‑classroom primary school.
On 19 March 2025, the Board of Management submitted a Stage 2 (b) detailed design package to the Department of Education for the third time. That submission remains under review.
For parent Hilda Duignan, whose daughter attends the school’s Rainbow Room autism class, the delays have had a direct impact on her family: "Because the promised extra autism classes are not available, we've had to send my other child to a completely different school, 20kms apart from each other. So I suppose I have four children across three different schools at the moment."
With full enrolment and a waiting list in place, Principal Connor believes Hilda's experience will be replicated: "In our new building, we would have a state-of-the-art autism area in the school, which would cater for two classes. As of now, we will have one place for our special class for next September. To date, we have about seven applications for one place."
Last July, the Government announced a capital allocation of €7.55bn for the Department of Education and Youth for the next four years under the National Development Plan.
A spokesperson for the Department told RTÉ News that the first tranche of projects to progress to construction will be published this month.
Chairperson of the Board of Management since 2001, Father John Garvey is hoping that Scoil an Chroí Naofa will make that list: "We are hearing about a plan between 2027 and 2040, and that we’re somewhere in there in that plan. So that's where the thing stands at the moment.
"It's the most frustrating thing in my life. I feel I'm part of the failure. Well I feel the failure lies completely with the officials of the Department of Education. They said they have no further questions from the design team. So all we're asking is for the go-ahead for this school to be built."
Despite the uncertainty, pupils continue to hope a new school will be delivered, even if it comes too late for some.
"I want the new school for my sisters so they won't have to walk across and back," said one pupil.
"Oh, I'd be so happy. But I'd probably be gone by the time that the school comes. But I'd just be really happy for all the other students that are younger," said a pupil.
"But it is upsetting that we don't get to experience it since it's been 24 years," added another pupil.
