Gaelscoil na Daróige pupils praised at Stormont for Bike to School Week environmental efforts

The environmental activist pupils at Irish language school Gaelscoil na Daróige were mentioned in dispatches at Stormont this week when an MLA described their decision to get 'ar na rothair' for Bike to School Week as 'uplifting'.
Pupils of Gaelscoil na Daróige cycled and scooted to school in their droves during Bike to School Week.Pupils of Gaelscoil na Daróige cycled and scooted to school in their droves during Bike to School Week.
Pupils of Gaelscoil na Daróige cycled and scooted to school in their droves during Bike to School Week.

Last week the 'Journal' reported how despite the changeable weather the activist pupils cycled and scooted to the Ballymagroarty school in their droves in order to set an environmentally sustainable example.

Their efforts were applauded this week in Stormont during an adjournment debate on Greenway and Active Travel Infrastructure Provision that was moved by North Antrim MLA Philip McGuigan.

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Mr. McGuigan remarked: "How uplifting was the article in last week's 'Derry Journal' about the children of Gaelscoil na Daróige cycling and scooting to school during Bike to School Week? In the paper, the principal, Fiachra Ó Donghaile, said: 'We encourage regular active travel to school because it is good for the heart, for the mind and leads to wider societal benefits.'"

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Gaelscoil na Daróige pupils ‘ar na rothair’ during Bike to School Week.

"A lot of the debate on cycling issues over the air waves and on social media focuses on Belfast and, to a lesser degree, Derry and perhaps Newry, and I understand the reasons for that.

"All those places deserve much better cycling and walking infrastructure than they have, but, in North Antrim, we do not even have the opportunity to really criticise the Department for substandard cycling-only infrastructure because the reality is that, at the minute, it does not exist," he said.

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