Longford parents in protest over school closures

Longford town and its environs are poised for dramatic population growth over the next five years, but the Department of Education is allowing schools in the area to close because of outdated population forecasts.

That is the view of a Co Longford parents' group which is holding a public meeting tonight to protest against the closure of St Joseph's Secondary School in Newtownforbes.

St Joseph's is run by the religious community, the Sisters of Mercy, which used to run a boarding school adjacent to its convent until the early 1990s. In recent years falling numbers in the order caused the nuns to sell the convent and it was subsequently developed as an apartment scheme.

Now the nuns have told the local community they no longer wish to remain as trustees of St Joseph's, the former girls' secondary school which went co-educational in 1994. Only three nuns remain on the teaching staff and it has been decided not to enrol pupils for the September term this year, which will result in the closure of the school by 2003.

The move is being contested by a parents' committee which has petitioned the Minister for Education, Dr Woods, to intervene. Department officials have, however, pointed out that the number of pupils at the school, at 179, marks it out for closure as it is Department policy to close smaller schools.

But according to Mr James Clarke, a member of the parents' committee, closing the school would be premature. There is planning permission for 150 houses in the village and this, he argues, would mean more pupils for the school. He also points out that three miles away Longford town enjoys large tax-designated areas, for which major growth is planned.

Already there is planning permission around Longford for 5,000 houses. At three people per house, that is a population increase of 15,000, and the current three secondary schools are at capacity as it is, Mr Clarke said.

"We do not see how the Government can be creating growth centres and developing a spatial development strategy, building up Longford town while the Department of Education is closing the schools," he added.

"It needs to be a sustainable strategy in which some integrated planning is put in place," he argues - though he said the committee was disappointed by the Department's stance.

"We met the Minister and he promised to read the officials' report and get back to us within three weeks. But he did not. We have been calling and writing letters since, but we have got no response. It is disappointing when you only get a letter saying the Minister can't meet you because of the foot-and-mouth crisis."

But the committee is encouraged by the attitude of the nuns. "We expect we would get the school at a peppercorn rent or that they would give it to us. It is their property but the Department put up the investment in buildings. All we need to do is to have them see the growth scenario," he concluded.

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