TEACHERS IN A Dublin-based secondary school have asked for plans by the Department of Education to convert the school to a Gaelcholáiste to be put on hold.

The plan was announced to convert Synge Street CBS in Dublin 8 to a Gaelscoil and a co-educational school by the Department of Education in September 2024. 

However, teachers were only informed of the decision the day before it was announced publicly. 

The Association of Secondary School Teachers (ASTI) is now seeking for the plans to be put on hold and for an urgent meeting with the Department of Education over the proposal.

They have welcomed the fact the school’s board of management have contacted the Department of Education to tell them that the conversion will not go ahead as planned in 2026.

At an ASTI meeting at the school this morning, teachers working at the school unanimously agreed to issue a statement which said they are deeply concerned about the proposal to convert their school to a Gaelcholáiste in September 2026.

ASTI Deputy General Secretary, Diarmaid de Paor said the organisation is “very concerned that such a major change to a school, and to the terms and conditions of its teachers, should be attempted with little or no consultation”.

The teachers now want the plans to convert the school to be paused until staff have been properly consulted.

The statement from the school’s teachers said: “Despite the monumental impact of such a decision, the staff and other valued members of our school community were not consulted prior to the announcement on September 11th 2024.

“We were informed on September 10th, a day before the school patron, the Edmund Rice Schools Trust (ERST), published the announcement and the Department of Education issued a press release welcoming it.”

They claim they have received “no meaningful communication” from either ERST or the Department of Education on how this change would be implemented or how they would be upskilled to continue teaching at the school. 

A survey by the ASTI found that 91% of teaching staff were not in favour of the transition to a Gaelcholáiste.

Conversely, 87% of teaching staff were in favour of a change to a co-educational school (allowing girls).

The teachers said they “fully respect and value” the Irish language and its promotion within education and agree that there is a need for a Gaelcholáiste in the area, but that a transition of the scale proposed should be guided by “transparency, collaboration, and careful consideration of all children’s needs”.

Need for a Gaelscoil 

Today’s development comes as a knock to campaigners in Dublin who have been pushing for an additional Irish-language secondary school in the capital. 

On Wednesday, school children and their teachers protested outside Leinster House, calling on Education Minister Helen McEntee to deliver the school that was promised last September. 

Students from Bunscoil Synge, Gaelscoil Eoin, Gaelscoil Inse Chór, Gaelscoil Lios na nÓg and Scoil Bhríde located in the Dublin 2, 4, 6, and 8 school areas, took part in the protest. 

A statement issued by the Department that evening said it remained committed to the establishment of a Gaelcholáiste in the Dublin South City area.

Asked by The Journal yesterday about the plans to convert the school, Minister McEntee said her Department was working closely with all involved. 

She said her intention was that the school would be opened in September 2025. 

“I don’t see any reason for that not to happen,” she added.

In a statement today, the Gaelcholáiste 2468 campaign said parents and children involved in the campaign for a new gaelscoil are “very worried” about today’s development.

Campaign chairperson and father of four children in Gaelscoil Lios na nÓg, Julian de Spáinn told The Journal: 

“We are calling on the Minister to publish a timeline for the Gaelcholáiste and if the Gaelcholáiste is to be located at an alternative site then we need to know this also.

“It is essential to move on this now, to communicate with all stakeholders and to make up for lost time.”

The Department of Education has been contacted for comment.

With reporting from Cormac Fitzgerald