Charlie McConalogue has called on the Minister for Education to prioritise the building of a new three school campus in Buncrana as a matter of urgency.
Deputy McConalogue raised the issue with Minister Bruton in the Dáil last week.
The project has been in the pipeline for years but there has been practically no movement on the construction of a new campus to house the three schools.
The proposed Crana College campus will be home to Crana College secondary school, which has more than 500 students; Buncrana Gaelscoil, which was established in 1999; and Coláiste Chineál Eoghain, which is the only second level Gaelscoil in Donegal and is housed in Tullyarvan Mill.
The Inishowen TD said “Students in Crana College are currently been taught in prefabs, while Buncrana Gaelscoil, which has more than 180 students, is using Buncrana Youth Club, as its school building.
“I raised this issue on the floor of the Dáil this time last year and the then Minister Jan O’Sullivan claimed that a site for the campus had been identified. However, last week Minister Richard Bruton confirmed to me that although a preferred site had been selected and that the Department has been engaging with the landowner, no agreement has been reached. He also revealed that the Department has engaged with other landowners in respect of a second site as an alternative option.
“The pace at which this process is proceeding is completely unacceptable. It has taken years for the project to reach this stage; in fact some of the children who are in these schools will have left by the time the new campus is built. This is an extremely important project and it is imperative that it is moved to the design and construction phase as quickly as possible,” concluded Deputy McConalogue.
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