Tramore is at the bottom of the pile when it comes to choice of second level education
That's according to Waterford Councillor Joe Conway who says although the seaside town has the largest population among all Waterford towns, it only has one secondary school available to students.
- That's compared to, in Wexford, New Ross's 5 schools, Carrick-An-Suir's 3 and Dungarvan's, with a significantly smaller population, 4 schools.
His comments come in response to a Government initiative to complete 400 new schools by 2030, a move that Conway says has become very delayed.
Speaking to WLR News, Cllr Joe Conway says the reason for the lack of educational choice for students in Tramore comes down to lack of planning:
"So, how do things augur for the town if social and educational planning is scrutinised. There are at least three defunct educational sites in the town, but planners do not seem to look any further than the housing option for these. But wait a while now…didn’t local fund-raising, contributions and taxpayers’ money pay for these schools? I know this to be the case, because my contemporaries tell me their parents traipsed around Tramore in the ‘sixties, going door-to-door in the depths of winter to get the funds to finance these schools.
But now to turn these sites over to housing – in a growing town, with just one second-level school – strikes me as a nadir of social and educational Luddism on the part of some planners. It seems that the range of thinking cannot see past houses and, sadly, dereliction for Tramore."
