Ms Eimear O'Rourke:

With amalgamation, we amalgamated two schools which were on two different campuses. We had to use the best buildings from both. That meant that the best buildings for the primary cycle were on one particular campus and post-primary were on another. It is a great challenge and sometimes I wish I could clone myself so that I could be in both places at the same time, but that is not possible. I have to rely on a very supportive in-school management team to assist. We very much need to be together, especially for the young deaf children from early-intervention primary level to be with the older children, to see what is possible for them and to be inspired by them. I know that the little children love when Mr. Hamilton and his group go down to the primary. They can be together and can communicate together.

Apart from the logistics, it is the funding of running and paying the expenses such as maintenance and security for four school buildings. It is not sustainable. We want to put our capitation into the needs of our deaf students and not into cleaning costs and repairing the school roof, which is very problematic.

I am grateful that we have been accepted for a new school building but I very much hope it can make rapid progress.