Parents Call On Religious Founders To Not Sell Land Beside School
Parents at an all-girls secondary school in South Dublin are appealing to its religious founders not to sell fields beside the school for housing.
The Sisters of Jesus and Mary, founders of Our Lady's Grove primary and secondary schools in Goatstown have put 5.4 acres of fields on the market.
The reported asking price for the fields, which are currently used by the schools, is €10 million.
If houses are to be built on the area, it would cause Our Lady's Grove to be surrounded, stopping any further expansion of the school.
The news comes less than two weeks after it emerged that the Christian Brothers had put 7.5 acres of the school's land at Clonkeen College in Deansgrange on the market to help cover the cost of compensation to sexual abuse victims.
Local Green Party TD Catherine Martin has called for an urgent audit and according to Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council, of the 105 primary and secondary schools in Dublin, 93 are zoned for housing.
Speaking to 98FM News, Martin commented on the need:
"there's an urgent need for new housing, but at the same time we need to protect the need for new and expanding schools. If we're going to take the crisis of obesity and the health and well-being, and mental health of our children and protecting that then we need to protect open spaces."