Councillors told emergency application for Dunkineely NS safety funding rejected

Cllr Noel Jordan (SF) has demanded to know how the Department of Education define the term ‘Emergency’, after it emerged that an emergency application for funding for immediate safety measures at Dunkineely National School were rejected, without any real analysis of the seriousness of the situation, following a potentially tragic near miss incident outside the school on September 21 last.   

A group of schoolchildren narrowly missed being ‘cleaned out’ by a speeding truck in Dunkineely, it was widely reported at the time by fellow councillor, Niamh Kennedy (Ind.).

A truck hit a kerb, coming through the village, just missing a number of children and parents who were at the pedestrian crossing outside Dunkineely National School. It is not the first time that such safety issues have been raised. 

At Tuesday’s monthly meeting, Cllr Jordan of Sinn Féin via a motion, seconded by Cllr Niamh Kennedy, asked the MD to call on the relevant departments to address the road safety issues at Dunkineely National School.

He said that an ‘emergency’ application that had been sent in by the Board of Management of the School last Friday, had already been rejected by the Department of Education by end of business on Monday and they had recommended that the school apply for funding under a SWS (Summer Works Scheme) application. This he said was “an unacceptable response” to an emergency situation. 

He appealed to the Department to reconsider the matter of funding, on a more immediate basis. 

He said that the application for a proper entry and exit parking area for parents to collect and drop off their children was the only solution in the long term and planning had already been received for it, along with three classrooms. And while funding for the classrooms had come along in the interim and being built, the funding for the safety measures never materialised. 

Relating to the latest comments of the Department for emergency funding he added:

“I saw the replies, they are unacceptable, it is a very serious matter and pushing it down the road is of no assistance. 

“A strong letter was sent in 2018 to support this proposal initially but we need to appeal this decision and the Department (of Education) need to relook at this.” 

He further explained that many parents were now “just dread bringing their kids to school” and that it “wouldn’t happen anywhere else in the country”,

Cllr Kennedy (Ind.) added that parents had been forced to make home made signs to warn ongoing traffic to slow down.

She said that it was hard to quantify the feeling of fear that parents now had and that the  handmade warning signs which the parents made, seemed to be the most effective way of making drivers aware that they needed to slow down.

She added that the situation had not developed overnight and that requests had been made for both a speed van and gardai to be present at the school’s opening and closing times, had been rejected, the latter because of under-resourcing issues. 

When the public were forced to wear high visibility jackets to warn traffic and asking HGVs to slow down indicated that the whole situation needed to be looked at again.

Acting Area Manager for Roads and Transportation, Mark Sweeney told members that upon receipt of the report of the recent near miss incident on Thursday September 21 outside the national school at Dunkineely.

“The Area Roads office immediately brought this to the attention of the Road Safety Engineer and asked him to review the location to see if there are any other additional measures that could be implemented at this location to help address the issue of vehicles failing to stop at the pedestrian crossing outside the school when the lights are red. 

“The road passing the school is the N56 National Secondary Route and lies within the 50kph zone. Any additional measures identified by the road safety engineer need to be discussed and agreed with the TII's (Transport Infrastructure Ireland) National Road safety team before they can be implemented. 

“Also, in February 2023, in response to other reported incidents of vehicles not stopping at these lights the Council arranged for a Road Safety Assessment Report to be carried out which concluded with short, medium, and long-term recommendations which will help with road safety in the vicinity of the school. 

“These recommendations were discussed with the school and a copy of this report was provided to assist in the schools application to the Department of Education for the necessary funding to complete the works which formed part of their planning permission in 2018 for the school extension and car park facility on the school grounds which when implemented will help with the overall road safety in the vicinity of the school,” Mr Sweeney explained.