Helena Trench just wants to make sure her pupils have some green space to play on.
Trench, who is the principal of Powerstown Educate Together National School, is overseeing an expansion of their existing building, with five new classes built for children with additional support needs.
But, when construction starts, she wants to make sure that it doesn’t interfere with the kids’ playtime outside, she says. “It’s an inclusive school that caters to so many children with additional complex needs.”
So really, the more open space available to the kids, the better, she says.
The school, which is in Tyrrelstown, sits between Powerstown Road and Damastown Avenue.
It hosts, among other facilities, a geodome, a biodiversity garden and a stepping-stones forest.
Behind the school is a plot of land owned by Fingal County Council. It’s been rented out to a farmer before, says Trench. “But before that it was often a bit of a no-man’s land.”
Her hope is that the school can use that land, at least in the short-term, while the yard is off-limits, she says.
At a recent area committee meeting, local councillors lined up to support the idea, arguing that Dublin 15 suffers from a shortage in classroom spaces for children with autism and the school is working to end that.
A spokesperson for Fingal County Council said that discussions are underway with the school to find out their specific needs.
Accessing the lands
The question of whether the council-owned land could be given over to the school was discussed by councillors at the Blanchardstown-Mulhuddart/Castleknock/Ongar Area Committee meeting on 7 November.
The Deputy Mayor, Fianna Fáil Councillor J.K. Onwumereh, put forward a motion seeking that. His colleagues lined up to back it.
Dublin 15 is in the midst of a crisis in the provision of schools for children with autism, said Labour Councillor John Walsh.
The council is limited in what it can do about education, said Walsh.
“Where the council can do something like this is to facilitate a very progressive and successful school, very inclusive school, and to facilitate education for kids with additional needs, we should absolutely do it,” he said.
Powerstown currently runs six autism classes, alongside 16 general classrooms, Trench said, on Monday evening.
According to the school’s planning application, which it submitted to the council on 10 October 2023, it wants to add a two-storey special-needs building, with five new classrooms.
The council approved the application on 12 January.
Onwumereh wanted to make sure that the extra bit of land was offered to them, he said. “So additional services can be provided by the school.”
The school had been asking for that land for several years, Labour Councillor Mary McCamley said.
A farmer had been using it on a year-to-year contract, she said. “It’s lying there.”
Solidarity Councillor Ruth Coppinger said that the council’s land has been a “battleground” for over a decade, with attempts to zone it for industrial use. “Thankfully it’s back in the hands of community education infrastructure.”
A lot of schools aren’t providing any autism classes, Powerstown is providing five, she said. “I think we should be bending over backwards to give them the extra space.”
Kevin Halpenny, senior parks and landscape officer in the Planning and Strategic Infrastructure Department, said they had met with the school. “We are in discussions with them about their specific needs.”
The council would normally liaise with the Department of Education on matters like this, he said.
But as it appears to be a temporary requirement, it is within the council’s own discretion, he said. “If it’s for permanent use for a school, I think we would probably be working with the Department of Education.”
The motion was agreed by the committee’s councillors.
The school’s hope is that this would be a decent short-term play area, Trench said on Monday. “But if something was to be more long-term, that would be an additional bonus.”
