Plans by multi-millionaire businessman Mr Pat McDonagh to fund a new €5 million primary school in his native village of Rolestown in north Dublin have been thrown into doubt because of the Government's decision to build a replacement prison for Mountjoy in the area.
Mr McDonagh said yesterday he was having "second thoughts" about developing the 16-class national school following last month's controversial Government decision.
"The two things are not necessarily connected except that I would take the view that: Why would I do something like this, to build a school in the interest of caring for the future of young people, when you get a decision that comes right in on top of people's lives and will disrupt or destroy that area forever?"
Asked on RTÉ Radio's Liveline whether he would withdraw funding for the project, Mr McDonagh replied: "I haven't made my mind up on that yet."
Pressed further on the subject, he said: "I would not today proceed with building the school in this locality . . . Would you build a school for a government that landed something like that in your back yard?"
Mr McDonagh, founder of the educational software company Riverdeep, said he had already spent more than €1 million on the planning for the school, which was due to be named after his late parents.
"Everybody is upset and people don't get upset for nothing. How they could have conceived a plan to land something like that in a beautiful rural setting, upsetting so many people's lives, when there are clearly more suitable sites for such an institution," he said.
A spokeswoman for the Department of Education confirmed that it had met Mr McDonagh about a proposal to build a school on his land. However, she said, "he was not building it in conjunction with the Department. In fact, the school has got nothing to do with the Department. We would negotiate with patron bodies and the boards of management of existing schools but this does not fall into those categories."
She added the Department understood planning permission for the school had been granted in September 2002 but no construction had taken place since.
Mr McDonagh said Fingal County Council was working to prevent any kind of slip-shod development "and then this thing is just parachuted in on top of us".
Local residents, schools and opposition parties are mounting a campaign against the Government's plans to develop the prison at Thornton Hall, Co Meath.
