O’Dowd meetsFoyle/Ebrington delegation

A cross-partisan delegation as well as representatives from both schools met the Minister in order to stress the strategic importance of the project.

Chairman of the Foyle and Londonderry Board of Governors, Robin Young, said the purpose of the meeting was to impress upon the Minister the vital importance of the scheme not just from an educational but also from a regeneration perspective.

He said the local politicians in attendance where unanimous and forthright in their support of the project.

“Certainly, all expressed support for the project, very strong vocal support, that this needed to happen, not only from an educational perspective but also from a city regeneration perspective,” said Mr Young.

“Effectively, this would free up the Foyle lands and even the Ebrington lands, quite a valuable asset sitting where it is quite close to the Ebrington barracks. It could be used for that or whatever.

“The Foyle lands, of course, would go to Magee and aid and support the expansion of Magee.”

Mr Young said the delegation used the meeting to fully apprise Mr O’Dowd of the key issues behind the project, the fact that it has been 15 years in the planning and that upwards of £15m has already been spent securing a site and progressing the scheme.

“The way it is with the Minister at the moment as far as we understand is that he is preparing criteria that he will bring to the Assembly in September.

“Now the criteria will be used to prioritise and select those schools that will be built over the next few years.

“He wasn’t going to announce any schools in advance of that going to the Assembly. You wouldn’t expect him to do that.

“All we were doing yesterday (Monday) was lobbying and making a strong case for both schools to be at the top of that list,” said Mr Young.

DUP MLA William Hay described the meeting as positive. He said he felt the Minister had listened carefully to the concerns raised by the delegation which included party colleague Gregory Campbell MLA, SDLP MLA Pat Ramsey and Sinn Féin MLA Raymond McCartney.

“We made a very strong case for the project,” said Mr Hay. “There is a huge will for this to go ahead.”

“There certainly is no other project we know of which has generated such unanimous cross-party support from the political parties as well as social support.”

He said the delegation recognised the limitations the new Minister was working under in the current straitened financial times but stressed the key importance of the project for pupils at both Ebrington and Foyle.

“They are really not fit for purpose at this time. The Ebrington building is almost 60 years old. We had a very strong delegation from both schools making that case for the project,” he said.

He said the Minister would signal his intentions concerning the entire school estate in a statement to the Assembly within weeks.

“He tells us he will be making a statement at the end of September or the beginning of October,” said Mr Hay. “A priority list will be drawn up to see which projects can be funded.”

SDLP Foyle MLA Pat Ramsey, who also attended the meeting, expressed disappointment that the Minister has not already ringfenced funding for the co-location project.

“While the minister was sympathetic to our case, he failed to commit to funding these new builds which are pivotal to the economic development of our city.

“People involved in this project are very frustrated as we believed that funding had already been promised for this long-awaited, widely acclaimed development by the Department of Education.

“If this does not proceed it will have hugely negative repercussions for Derry, not just for the two schools waiting on new buildings but for the potential expansion of Magee University, the development of college sites on the Northland Road and on economic opportunities for people in the north-west.

“The cost to our city is too great for the Sinn Féin Minister to allow departmental budgetary constraints to abandon this priority investment. The SDLP will continue to fight for funds to make this project a reality.”

Sinn Féin MLA Raymond McCartney said: “The Minister fully recognisesd the need for new-builds at both Foyle College and Ebrington Primary School and I have no doubt that he will do all in his power to ensure that both schools are given the kind of facilities that they require.”

He added: “Successive Sinn Féin Ministers have shown their commitment to delivering a first-class schools estate and the massive amount of investment which has taken place in Derry over recent years is evidence of that.

“Obviously, we are in constrained financial times as a result of the British Government cuts to the Executive’s budget and the Education Department has been particularly badly affected.

“Therefore the Minister is, quite rightly, taking time to consider how these limited funds can best be prioritised in order to secure the maximum educational benefits for all children and young people. He will be announcing his intentions to the Assembly next month.”