Caitriona Ruane - "an abuse of power"

[Minder]

Hmmm... let's see now.

1. A new school built through PPP with millions of £s being paid to a private developer over and above the original investment for 15 or 20 years

or

2. A new school build on some free land vacated by the Brits incorporating top class facilities which
can be shared with other schools.

The judge thinks it's "not fair" that we don't build the gammar the fancy new school on the site they want! f**king p***k, who's money does he think he is spending here? If Loreto think it's "not fair" then let them ask the parents to stump up £15m plus the developers annual fee.

this post sums it up for me

Surprising.

[Maguire01]

Hmmm... let's see now.

1. A new school built through PPP with millions of £s being paid to a private developer over and above the original investment for 15 or 20 years

or

2. A new school build on some free land vacated by the Brits incorporating top class facilities which can be shared with other schools.

The judge thinks it's "not fair" that we don't build the gammar the fancy new school on the site they want! f**king p***k, who's money does he think he is spending here? If Loreto think it's "not fair" then let them ask the parents to stump up £15m plus the developers annual fee.

this post sums it up for me

Even though #1 makes no sense?

[Ulick]

Of course it makes sense you're just being pedantic. And no, I wouldn't expect her to be replaced.

[oakleafgael]

Of course it makes sense you're just being pedantic. And no, I wouldn't expect her to be replaced.

I asked you a question earlier, why do you think it was a bad decision to initially award a new building project for the convent when there had been no mention of a shared campus when they made their application or when they got the go ahead?

[Tony Baloney]

Of course it makes sense you're just being pedantic. And no, I wouldn't expect her to be replaced.

Why? Because you believe she is doing a good job or because in local politics annoying themmuns is equally as important as achieving anything of note ref. Nelson McCausland.

[Maguire01]

Of course it makes sense you're just being pedantic.

It makes no sense because both options are PPP. We've already had this one.

[Ulick]

Oak the answer to your question is so obvious I don't like to point it out, but maybe you've missed all the redundancies, the cutbacks, the schools with no funding and 40k empty desks? The English minister promised something we can't afford, that's why it was a bad decision.

[Maguire01]

Oak the answer to your question is so obvious I don't like to point it out, but maybe you've missed all the redundancies, the cutbacks, the schools with no funding and 40k empty desks? The English minister promised something we can't afford, that's why it was a bad decision.

We can't afford £15m? Yet we can afford £100m for the other project? Clearly it is agreed that this school needs to be replaced.

[RadioGAAGAA]

Ruane is the one single reason i will not be voting SF at the next election,she is single handily destroying our education system

She is a complete total disaster.

Obsessed with replacing the 11+ with a system proven to be worse.


People searching for an educational utopia are wasting their time; it is fairer to stagger it by academic selection at around 11 than by any other measure.

[Tony Baloney]

A bad decision would be to go ahead with building a campus that very few local people actually want without stopping to re-organise the schools in West Tyrone. In Strabane, there is a brand new school opened by the current Minister 18 months ago with around 350 empty seats, in Castlederg, a maintained secondary school with less than 150 children and in Dromore a maintained secondary school with less than 150 children. In Omagh, there is a controlled secondary school with around 400 children being offered a new building on the campus despite not meeting DE policy on sustainability.  In Carrickmore, the maintained secondary school is getting a new build in the village for under 500 children despite issues with sustainability and the proposed campus being built 14 miles down the road.  In the period since DE first proposed to have the new campus, the Minister agreed to and built a new integrated school in Omagh at the opposite end of the town to the proposed campus, it opened last September.

We need some joined up thinking in West Tyrone and some political bravery to take decisions on where and when to build schools and to re-organise the provision to meet 21st century requirements.  We don't need a plan to place 6 schools one site when they may not be needed.  We don't need another Balmoral High School, new buildings with no students. 

Opportunities must not be lost to build a system of schools in West Tyrone which will meet the needs of one of the most deprived rural areas of N.Ireland.  There is no local or regional industry in West Tyrone.  Private sector employment depended on construction and agriculture and both are gone.  The main employers are the schools, the education library board, in the DARD building, in the DSD building, in the DRD building and the local council.  The hospital was moved from the Tyrone by the last health minister from the centre of the county to the least populated part of N.Ireland with no roads for people to get to it and also took away a major employer.  Just when a road into West Tyrone is proposed and financed, it is opposed by some locals when it might bring some industry.  The chief export of West Tyrone is its young people and they need the best schools possible to prepare them for their futures, schools fit for the 21st century and not just a plan to build the same schools on an army camp to prove a political point that the army has gone. 

If a campus is needed, there is a site where the government owns the land, its not at Lisanelly.  Lisanelly Army camp is a typical fort build on a steep hill and is a steeply sloping site and protected by a river which will cost millions to make useful for large school buildings.  The planned sports area at Lisanelly is in the Strule river flood plain which is useless every time there is heavy rain and the river rises.  There is no infrastructure in the Lisanelly area to move 5000 children, teachers and support staff in and out of the area of the Gortin road every day.  Anyone who has attended a major game at Healy Park can testify how difficult it can be to get in and out of that part of Omagh for a single event on a Sunday when the traffic in town is quite light.  Then there is the cost of decontamination of Lisanelly where the army and their families remained for over 30 years without being able to come out except for patrols.  No one knows what has been dumped on the site during that time.  The Fort George site in Derry has only 14 acres and is costing in excess of an estimated £3 million to decontaminate after being handed over to DSD, the entire Lisanelly site is 10 times that size!  Do we really have that money to spend on decontamination of the site from a limited capital budget?

Beside the newly built integrated secondary school there is a similar sized site which is not in a flood plain and is virtually flat.  It belongs to DSD and is the site of the old mental hospital and it would be perfect for a campus.  Therefore, it would be free and available as the old hospital is empty and it would bring the newly built integrated school into the "integrated" campus.  It has not even been considered by DE even though it approved part of its use for the new integrated school while planning for Lisanelly campus at the other end of town. Part of the Lisanelly site could be used for the local hospital and health centre closer to the centre of the town and the 3 housing estates already on the Lisanelly site could be used for much needed social housing.

It is also beginning to dawn on the shops in the Omagh town centre that moving 4000 children away from it to Lisanelly would devastate the commerce because of the money they leave in town 3 times per day and when the £15,000 per day they leave in town centre could be lost to some PPP contractor who would cater for the children on the proposed campus.  Omagh town centre is struggling to exist at present and this would close small cafes, small shops and even the local large Supervalu which caters for many of the older children.  The out of centre retail park has already closed quite a few retailers in the town centre.

A little more thought on so many fronts is needed before a minimum of £110 million is spent from a very limited DE capital budget which cannot meet the needs of so schools across N.Ireland, e.g. take a look on the other side of the board to an interview by JQ with a young lad on the lack of facilities provided by DE to his school in North Belfast which many would think were basic. http://www.jeromequinnmedia.com/watch/GAA-Star-of-the-Month---Aidan-McNeill-411

Some valuable insight as usual, sir.

[oakleafgael]

Oak the answer to your question is so obvious I don't like to point it out, but maybe you've missed all the redundancies, the cutbacks, the schools with no funding and 40k empty desks? The English minister promised something we can't afford, that's why it was a bad decision.

Ulick,

TYP has outlined the complete mess that has been made in the area under Ruane. Other schools in the area have recieved funding and have completed buildings despite not meeting the criteria that the convent did meet. The only reason that it cant be afforded is due to the ineptitude of Ruane. She had sat on her hands and awarded money to other projects and held back based on a pipe dream of the shared campus that none of the schools in the town want.

[naka]

[[/quote]She is the worst minister of the last parliament and that's saying something with Poots, McCausland, McGimpsey etc on the hill.
[/quote]
nail on head there mate

[StGallsGAA]

That will be one angle that the Shinner fanboys on here will go with. Even the stanchest Shinner would have to admit she has been a total disaster.

Hmmm...could it be Trout is a Ulster-Scots speaker? 

[Tony Baloney]

Stanchest would be with McCooey accent.

[Puckoon]

A bad decision would be to go ahead with building a campus that very few local people actually want without stopping to re-organise the schools in West Tyrone. In Strabane, there is a brand new school opened by the current Minister 18 months ago with around 350 empty seats, in Castlederg, a maintained secondary school with less than 150 children and in Dromore a maintained secondary school with less than 150 children. In Omagh, there is a controlled secondary school with around 400 children being offered a new building on the campus despite not meeting DE policy on sustainability.  In Carrickmore, the maintained secondary school is getting a new build in the village for under 500 children despite issues with sustainability and the proposed campus being built 14 miles down the road.  In the period since DE first proposed to have the new campus, the Minister agreed to and built a new integrated school in Omagh at the opposite end of the town to the proposed campus, it opened last September.

We need some joined up thinking in West Tyrone and some political bravery to take decisions on where and when to build schools and to re-organise the provision to meet 21st century requirements.  We don't need a plan to place 6 schools one site when they may not be needed.  We don't need another Balmoral High School, new buildings with no students. 

Opportunities must not be lost to build a system of schools in West Tyrone which will meet the needs of one of the most deprived rural areas of N.Ireland.  There is no local or regional industry in West Tyrone.  Private sector employment depended on construction and agriculture and both are gone.  The main employers are the schools, the education library board, in the DARD building, in the DSD building, in the DRD building and the local council.  The hospital was moved from the Tyrone by the last health minister from the centre of the county to the least populated part of N.Ireland with no roads for people to get to it and also took away a major employer.  Just when a road into West Tyrone is proposed and financed, it is opposed by some locals when it might bring some industry.  The chief export of West Tyrone is its young people and they need the best schools possible to prepare them for their futures, schools fit for the 21st century and not just a plan to build the same schools on an army camp to prove a political point that the army has gone. 

If a campus is needed, there is a site where the government owns the land, its not at Lisanelly.  Lisanelly Army camp is a typical fort build on a steep hill and is a steeply sloping site and protected by a river which will cost millions to make useful for large school buildings.  The planned sports area at Lisanelly is in the Strule river flood plain which is useless every time there is heavy rain and the river rises.  There is no infrastructure in the Lisanelly area to move 5000 children, teachers and support staff in and out of the area of the Gortin road every day.  Anyone who has attended a major game at Healy Park can testify how difficult it can be to get in and out of that part of Omagh for a single event on a Sunday when the traffic in town is quite light.  Then there is the cost of decontamination of Lisanelly where the army and their families remained for over 30 years without being able to come out except for patrols.  No one knows what has been dumped on the site during that time.  The Fort George site in Derry has only 14 acres and is costing in excess of an estimated £3 million to decontaminate after being handed over to DSD, the entire Lisanelly site is 10 times that size!  Do we really have that money to spend on decontamination of the site from a limited capital budget?

Beside the newly built integrated secondary school there is a similar sized site which is not in a flood plain and is virtually flat.  It belongs to DSD and is the site of the old mental hospital and it would be perfect for a campus.  Therefore, it would be free and available as the old hospital is empty and it would bring the newly built integrated school into the "integrated" campus.  It has not even been considered by DE even though it approved part of its use for the new integrated school while planning for Lisanelly campus at the other end of town. Part of the Lisanelly site could be used for the local hospital and health centre closer to the centre of the town and the 3 housing estates already on the Lisanelly site could be used for much needed social housing.

It is also beginning to dawn on the shops in the Omagh town centre that moving 4000 children away from it to Lisanelly would devastate the commerce because of the money they leave in town 3 times per day and when the £15,000 per day they leave in town centre could be lost to some PPP contractor who would cater for the children on the proposed campus.  Omagh town centre is struggling to exist at present and this would close small cafes, small shops and even the local large Supervalu which caters for many of the older children.  The out of centre retail park has already closed quite a few retailers in the town centre.

A little more thought on so many fronts is needed before a minimum of £110 million is spent from a very limited DE capital budget which cannot meet the needs of so schools across N.Ireland, e.g. take a look on the other side of the board to an interview by JQ with a young lad on the lack of facilities provided by DE to his school in North Belfast which many would think were basic. http://www.jeromequinnmedia.com/watch/GAA-Star-of-the-Month---Aidan-McNeill-411

Excellent analysis. You're obviously a student who, ahem, does his homework.

Can someone tell me what DARD, DSD and DE are - and also - what kind of de-contamination are you talking about here? I'd never heard of such a thing in my paltry 30 years, very interesting. Taking the schools out of the town would decimate the place in all fairness. Those food places would really struggle - but Mickey McElroy would be happy there'd be no more skateboarding down mainstreet.