Parents’ concern over Ukrainian refugees housed in school

Concerns over a Meath secondary school building being used as an accommodation centre for Ukrainian refugees have been raised by parents who are deeply unhappy about children and refugees sharing a school campus.

The Department of Children, which has responsibility for International Protection Accommodation Services (IPAS) has confirmed that 289 refugees are currently being accommodated in the Franciscan College in Gormanston, and that there is capacity to house up to 401 refugees.

Parents say children are attending school on the first two floors, with hundreds of refugees living on the third floor of the same building, in what was previously the boarding quarters.

Over 130 parents recently attended a meeting at the school voicing their concerns in what is understood to have been a heated meeting with representatives of the school's board of management, Gormanston Park and the Department of Children.

Parents raised concerns about the potential interaction between school children and refugees and since then extensive fencing and security personnel have been put in place to address these concerns.

However, one parent said the school is now “like a prison” with security fencing everywhere and security staff on the grounds.

"Lots of parents are angry and upset. We want to know who signed off on letting refugees live alongside school children aged from 12 to 18," she said.

"The refugees are living on the third floor and the children are at school on the first and second floors. All that divides the children from the refugee accommodation are two fire safety doors and plywood at the top of the stairs. They are all in the one physical building.

"The children can hear them running around upstairs. They should not be living in a school. It does not matter what country they are from or what circumstances, if they came from Cork we would be saying the same thing.

"We want to know who signed off on this and who allowed it. Nobody has given us an answer. Who did the risk assessment?

"If there is a risk assessment, and I don't believe one was done, parents should have sight of it."

Concerns have also been expressed about how the current situation is going to impact on the school's enrolment going forward with one parent already saying she will be sending her next child elsewhere.

An open night was recently held at the school for prospective students and their parents and according to one parent, the general feeling was that enrolment was going to be affected by what is going on. "If enrolments and students numbers are affected, the number of teachers is affected and also funding for the school as capitation grants are per student."

She said they were very sympathetic to the plight of the refugees and have welcomed them elsewhere in the community, gathering toiletries and clothes, but they do not feel it is appropriate for the refugees and children to be sharing the same building.

"My main concern is the security issue regarding crossover between the refugees and the kids going to school. It is not about where they are from. It is about 400 unvetted people being in the same building as the schoolchildren.

"They have the place like a prison. There is fencing everywhere and security everywhere.

"Kids have been through enough the last two years with Covid. We just wanted them to be able to go back to school to a normal environment with no masks and no restrictions.

"We are all very sympathetic and have no problem with refugees being here but in the right setting and not in a school with children. We want them moved into more appropriate accommodation".

Franciscan College Gormanston and Gormanston Park have both been contacted for comment but had not responded at time of going to press.

Approval is in place for a new 1,000 pupil secondary school building for Gormanston College, which will be built across the road from the existing campus.

With no clear indication on how long the current arrangement to accommodate the refugees will be in place for, and whether it will be extended beyond the initial six month period, pressure is mounting for the new school project to advanced as soon as possible.