Parking shortfall at new Louth school will cause 'absolute traffic chaos’, Dáil told

There are not enough car parking spaces or wide enough drop off and collection points at a new school building for special education students in Louth, the Dáil heard last week.

Sinn Féin TD Ruairí Ó Murchú raised the problems at Ardee Educate Together during a Topical Issue debate last Thursday and highlighted to Minister of State Emer Higgins that if the problems are not fixed now, they will be ‘very costly’ to solve at a later date.

Deputy Ó Murchú said he had visited the site of the new school recently and said it was ‘absolutely fabulous’ but there are not enough drop-off and collection points for special needs buses.

He said: “The school has five special needs classes for pupils with autism, comprising 30 pupils.

“They barely have room for two minibuses, and they require five. The lack of bus parking will cause backup for the remaining buses and cars and result in huge traffic jams and delays.

“The present system will result in absolute traffic chaos. The Principal has repeatedly raised this with Louth County Council and the architects. I went to the council myself and was told this had gone to the design team, which had refused it on the basis of cost, and that it would have to go back for planning.

“This issue can be easily resolved by continuing the bus parking set-down area by three spaces to the west onto unused space, of which there is a lot, between the school and the boundary fence.

“Regarding the school car park, I was sent a plan showing how it could be extended with a widened road. There are 21 spaces. There is a need for probably double that number.

“I met the contractor. If the work was done at this point in time, it could be done cheaply. I ask that we find a solution as soon as possible”.

In response, Minister Higgins said: “The Department has been actively engaging with the design team and Louth County Council throughout the process and will continue.

“The school previously submitted a request for additional car park spaces which was reviewed by the Department but was not approved.

“The design team is now required to construct and progress the project in accordance with the project brief. The number of car parking spaces currently provided for is what is in the planning conditions.

“The Deputy spoke about a solution, namely, widening the road and extending the car park. To me, this might require planning permission and would be something he would need to engage on with Louth County Council”.

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But Deputy Ó Murchú urged the department to be more flexible.

He said: “At any point in time, we could have a proper and speedy review of what is possible and how quickly we could fix this.

“I have spoken to the Taoiseach, written to the Minister and will hand the Minister of State a letter later. I ask that she follows up with the Minister.

“This will become a bigger problem very quickly and it will become a more expensive problem. It is an absolute necessity that action is taken”.