Public Meeting 30th May

Save Our Land – Our Lady’s Grove
Tuesday 30th May 8pm, The Goat Bar, Goatstown

We would like to thank you for your support and attendance at the Public Meeting in the Goat Bar on Tuesday evening, 30th May with regard to the sale of land around Our Lady's Grove Schools in Goatstown. The Meeting was extremely well attended (120 people) by Parents, Grandparents, Residents, Local Representatives and Councillors.

Summary of Proceedings:

Welcome

Chair Tomas Jones welcomed all to the meeting. The meeting was called by a group of concerned parents who have been working together since March on the foot of communication to all parents at the School from the Board of Management (BoM) regarding the sale of lands.

Initially the BoM requested that the group proceed cautiously so as not to affect any negotiations taking place with RJM. On the evening of Monday 29th May, a letter was sent to all parents from the BoM advising that RJM had a preferred buyer. On the evening of this meeting, a SOLD sign was erected.

Lisa Ryan presented a summary of the situation so far, highlighting concerns of parents.

Concerns

• No green space for children – to play, to do sports, to be outside
• No room for future expansion - very worrying with DLR's current population growth and new housing developments in the school's catchment area
• Collaborative aftercare facilities (GAS) existence under threat
• Congestion on access to school and Goatstown Road
• Health and safety of children in existing schools
• No infrastructure for new residential developments
• Divestment of educational campus of facilities for future generations

Key Next Steps

· Identify contact details for 42 DLR Councillors and circulate template letter to parents to send to councillors. Must be done in advance of council meeting on 12th June.
UPDATE: Email Template + Councillor list can be found here.
· Write to the BoM
· Write to the School Principal
· Engage with Secondary School
· Write to the RJM / Request a Meeting
· Write to relevant Government Ministers, in particular Minister for Education, Richard Bruton, Minister for Housing, Simon Coveney, Minister for Health, Simon Harris and Minister for Health Promotion, Marcella Corcoran Kennedy
· Write to local T.D.'s Shane Ross and Josepha Madigan, Catherine Martin was present and is already supporting our campaign
· Write to Archbishop
· Pull a copy of the documents re the rezoning of the land to see the exact terms and conditions and to find out when was this done and which councillors voted for this rezoning


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Join the fight! We need to put a stop to the sale of land around our schools!

Sign our Petition, Like our Facebook Page, Follow us on Twitter

Continue to engage with all DLR Councillors, T.D.'s and the Minister for Education on this urgent issue for our school and indeed all schools in DLR and beyond.