Children of Gaelscoil de hIde in Fermoy, Co Cork will take part is a spectacular themed protest to demand that Minister for Education, Jan O'Sullivan, prioritizes the building of our much-needed new school

DISNEY'S 'Frozen' may be responsible for the must-have gift this Christmas but parents at one Gaelscoil adopted it as their protest theme after claiming to be "frozen out"by the Government in a new school campaign.

Gaelscoil de hIde parents and supporters in Fermoy, Co Cork, mounted a North Pole-style protest over fears it will be three years or more before construction starts on their new school building.

They are pleading with Education Minister Jan O'Sullivan to accelerate planning and construction on the project, which parents criticised as "painfully slow and unwieldy."

The eye-catching protest was organised with a little help from 'Weddings by Franc' operator, Peter Kelly, who lives locally.

A Fermoy site for the new gaelscoil was identified within a local Department of Environment land bank. The protest took place to mark the third anniversary since the school was promised a new home.

The teachers and 410 students should have moved into the new school last September - but planning permission hasn't even been applied for yet.

Hopes that the school would be sanctioned for priority construction were dashed, with one Labour councillor, whose grandchildren attend the school, admitting he believes 2017, at the earliest, is an accurate forecast of when the new building will be ready.

Cllr Noel McCarthy said he fears it will be up to three years before the 410 pupils can transfer from their cramped facilities in an ageing former Fermoy secondary school designed to cater for half that number of children.

Teacher and Kerry GAA star Tomas O Se said, "the animals at Fota Wildlife Park have more room to play than these children."

Irish Independent