Protest planned for Donegal Education Support Centre with McEntee to step in

A protest has been planned against the relocation of the Donegal Education Support Centre (DESC) from Donegal Town to the Mountain Top in Letterkenny, with the Minister for Education to review the issue.

Following the very successful public meeting, held in the Abbey Hotel last Thursday, the Save Donegal Education Centre committee met to discuss what will happen next in the efforts to keep the centre in Donegal Town.

The staff have expressed their extreme gratitude to all the people who came out to the public meeting to support them and the business community in Donegal Town. The public protest will now be organised to take place in the coming days.

Local TDs and Senators from Donegal requested a meeting with the Minister for Education, Helen McEntee, which will take place this week to discuss the issues with the centre. It is hoped that the Minister will call a halt to this move and instruct the management committee to hold the AGM before February 28.

The AGM must take place before then in accordance with the constitution of the DESC. A statement from the management committee was released last Friday, with the issue of the AGM not addressed.

Donegal Deputy Charles Ward raised the issue of the relocation in the Dáil last week.

The 100% Redress Party TD said that staff members, some of which have worked in the Donegal Education Centre for over ten years, are now being forced to relocate to Letterkenny, over an hour away.

READ NEXT: Gaelscoil na gCeithre Máistrí set to move into building - after 25 years in prefabs

He said: “This is a completely unnecessary decision, which was never discussed or brought to a general meeting of that body, or consulted with the voting members of Donegal Education Centre.”

Deputy Ward said the Education Centre is a cornerstone of Donegal and Donegal town and that the treatment of workers has been unacceptable.

The Education Centre is to be shut down on March 31 year. The centre has been in Donegal Town since it opened in 1998 and has been in its current suite of offices and training rooms at Dom’s Pier One since the building’s construction in the early 2000s.

The Donegal Town community is at a loss as to how this relocation can be justified, and not just in terms of moving the organisation to the larger urban centre of Letterkenny. There is also head-scratching as to the spending of public funds on what is viewed as an unnecessary relocation at a time when schools in the county are crying out for new buildings and extensions, or facilities and support staff for pupils with additional needs.
The Centre is making the move to Glenview Business Park in Letterkenny.

“Relocating from Donegal Town, the CPD centre aims to have a more centralised and accessible hub for educational development in Donegal,” they said in a statement recently.

The Management Committee says the decision was made following extensive consultation and collaboration with school leaders, teachers, staff and other stakeholders: “With 178 primary schools, 28 post-primary schools, and two special schools in the county, this move is designed to meet the evolving needs of the educational community while fostering accessibility, deeper engagement and collaboration with local schools and other educational bodies.”