Elected reps keep up pressure for warden at Presentation

Councillors in the Mullingar Kinnegad Municipal District have continued calls for the appointment of a school warden to cater for children attending Presentation Senior School in Mullingar, but the executive are waiting on the completion of a technical report on the matter.

The school warden at Presentation School was replaced by a signal pedestrian crossing.

The matter was raised in the early stages of the January meeting when Cllr Ken Glynn said he, along with council colleagues, have continued to work for a resolution: “We’ve been in constant contact with the school in relation to this in the month since we last met,” Cllr Glynn said, “This is a serious situation.”

Cllr Glynn said there was unanimity among the elected representatives on the matter: “We need an outcome and we need a school warden in place as soon as possible. I genuinely cannot understand why there is such an obstacle to this. I think members made it quite clear last month where we stand.”

The Fianna Fáil councillor warned about the potential consequences: “This is an emergency. We do not want to be sitting here in due course talking about something we should have done because something happened.”

Supporting her colleague, Cllr Aoife Davitt said: “I voiced my objections when the warden was taken away from the school. I just thought that it wasn’t a good idea, even with the insertion of the pedestrian crossing.”

Cllr Julie McCourt agreed: “There is a need for more signage. I don’t know what’s going to be done with respect to parking, but there is a real need to bring back the lollipop lady.”

Cllr Emily Wallace spoke of the need for public responsibility:

“It’s chaos there in the morning. I think we need to work with the school in relation to parent-driver behaviour at that location,” she said. “Children have to navigate between a parked car and a car pulled up – it is highly dangerous.”

The cathaoirleach of the municipal district, Cllr Mick Dollard said the matter had been the subject of “a lot of adverse publicity in the media in the last months”.

“There were even reports that kids attending Presentation were writing to Santa Claus hoping for a school warden,” said Cllr Dollard. “It’s all very well putting in technical measures, but when you have young kids, it is vital that there is an adult presence.”

At the December meeting of the MD, a motion tabled by Cllr Andrew Duncan expressed concern about the safety of students. The official written response provided by the executive stated there is a signalised crossing in place, and that is the current standard.

The council also listed four additional safety measures in the pipeline. They include the installation of pencil bollards in the first quarter of 2026 and the provision of Active Travel Infrastructure on Harbour Street in the third quarter.

The executive advised the school to apply for inclusion in the Safe Routes to School Programme when it reopens to new applications.

In her reply to the councillors comments at the January meeting, director of services, Deirdre Reilly, confirmed that the matter is being assessed by the executive.

“I am waiting on a technical report from my team, and we have scheduled a meeting with the principal for this week,” Ms Reilly said.

“I will have a definitive answer at the February meeting. At that stage, I’ll have my report, and I’ll be able to give you the answers you’re looking for.”

Cllr Glynn stressed the importance of action: “This is an emergency situation. We cannot wait any longer,” he said.

That was echoed by Cllr Duncan: “We as councillors have to stand up to the executive and be firm in our viewpoint.

If children are continuing to be put in dangerous situations, I’ll quit this job. In the interim, we need to have someone out there.”

Cllr Wallace agreed with that assessment: “It’s one of the most dangerous locations in the town, particularly for unaccompanied children.” Cllr Bill Collentine also spoke out on the dangers of the current system.

The director of services said the existing measure covers many of the issues raised by the elected representatives: “The reason I need a technical report is we have a set of traffic lights there, so we have a situation where there are two things working at the same time. The traffic wardens and the traffic signals.

I guarantee that we will have our traffic wardens go up there and look at the unauthorised parking.”

Ms Reilly said the need to wait for the technical report was the necessity to “understand the legislation behind having both of those things there at the same time” and said any delay was to ensure “we’re doing the right thing in accordance with legislation”.

Urging speed in the matter, Cllr Glynn said: “The lives of kids are more important than any legislation in my book.”