Now that a contractor has been appointed to construct the new Gaelscoil building on the Golf Course Road in Westport it is timely to remind ourselves of the facts relating to the selection of the site and the construction schedule since then.
Shortly after the local elections of 2004 my fellow councillors and I meet with a large deputation from the Gaelscoil who asked us as a council to lobby for a new building. I was present at that meeting and was able to give the parents and guardians my full support.
At a later meeting of the council there was unanimous support from all sides of the chamber for our council to proceed to lobby the government on a non-partisan basis for a new school.
When further assistance was requested from the school as to sourcing a suitable site for the school, Westport Town Council answered the call and identified a suitable site on council land on the Golf Course Road.
This proposal was put to the nine councillors for consideration and again in non-partisan approach councillors voted unanimously in 2005 to sell the site to the Department of Education to facilitate the building of the school.
In January 2006 the Department of Education gave the go-ahead for the architectural planning of the school and granted funding for the new ten classroom school with a completion date of mid-2007.
There it waited, in limbo, for two years in the stage of "advanced architectural planning" while the nine councilors of Westport Town Council joined all the other parties in lobbying for an actual date for a contractor to be appointed.
Imagine my surprise when, TWO YEARS later, Batt O'Keeffe, Minister for Education, held an unadvertised sod turning ceremony on the site weeks before the Local and European Elections of June 2009.
No contractor had been appointed, only the Cathaoirleach, the Fianna Fail members of Westport Town Council and a few representatives of the parents and staff of the school were invited.
The five other councillors from Fine Gael, Labour and Sinn Fein, who had all lobbied and fought for the school, and who had voted to make the land available for the school were not informed or invited to this so called sod turning.
It soon was very, very obvious that this was just a pre-election political stunt and so, to highlight it as such, I pulled a political stunt of my own and posted the very same sod back to Minister O'Keeffe.
Despite a lot of spluttering and mock indignation from the Minister and his colleagues on Westport Town Council there was no contractor appointed. In fact when Batt O'Keeffe left office the Gaelscoil was no far along than it was before he was appointed.
This week I was wrapping a brick to post to Minister Mary Coughlan to celebrate the anniversary of my posting the sod to Minister O'Keeffe when I learned of the good news that, finally a contractor had been appointed, ONE YEAR after the so called sod turning.
If it were not for the guardians, parents and teachers of the school this project would never have happened, but it is important to remember that this project was facilitated greatly by the nine members of Westport Town Council, acting in a non-partisan manner.
It was a shame that the Fianna Fail's Minister, TD and local councillors sought to snub and ignore the role played by all nine councillors in serving their community. In my opinion it reflects poorly on them even now.
As for my brick, its still wrapped up and if the school is not delievered on time I will use it as I see best to get the job done.
In the meantime I look forward to the REAL sod turning, with a contractor!
Yours sincerely
____________
Cllr Keith Martin
Leas Cathaoirleach
Westport Town Council
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