The board of management of a primary school in Galway city centre has strongly refuted claims by the city's mayor, Cllr Catherine Connolly, that the school may be interested in moving out of its current location in order to rezone the site for residential use.
Cllr Connolly had expressed concerns at the weekend that Galway schools, including St Patrick's National School, would follow the lead of St Joseph's College - "the Bish" - which had its Nun's Island site rezoned last month.
In a statement issued yesterday, the board of St Patrick's said that the mayor's speculation that the school might move from Lombard Street, where it has been for 50 years, was "completely without foundation".
"We would like to refute in the strongest terms possible these untruthful statements and say that they are completely without foundation," said the statement.
"The mayor's allegation is potentially very damaging to the school as it will create doubt and confusion in the minds of parents who might, therefore, decide not to send their children to the school."
The board was "astounded" that the mayor had speculated about the school without first consulting with it.
Yesterday, Cllr Connolly said she was delighted that St Patrick's had no plans to move. She said her comments were in response to the new City Development Plan which, in her view, had facilitated the rezoning of city centre schools.
She said she hoped the development plan would be changed to remove the policy which encouraged city centre schools to move out of the city centre.