This article is from page 5 of the 2008-05-20 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 5 JPG
AN EAST Clare secondary school, which is already coping with twice the number of pupils it was supposed to cater for, may still not get a new school – because they had 59 enrol- ments less than was expected this year.
The plight of St Joseph’s in Tulla was raised at a Dail debate last week. The school is catering for 441 stu- dents in a building which was de- signed to house 270.
And half of all the schools’ accom- modation is temporary, with 11 out of 22 classrooms based in prefabs on a site which is too small to ever ex- pand to comprise playing fields.
Deputy Pat Breen had asked during a Dail adjournment debate that the minister for education give a letter to the school’s board of management stating that their long-term prefer- ence for Tulla is for a new school on AMES Kore ON ELo (OMSL KOR
The school has been in negotia- tion with a local landowner for a site which would allow them to erect a new building on a fully serviced site with planning permission for sport- ing facilities.
Contracts have been drawn up, but to go any further the schools needs the department’s letter.
Replying on behalf of the minister for education, Minister for Health and Children, Deputy Mary Harney said that St Joseph’s had been awarded a grade 2 on the department’s system, but this was based on an expected enrolment of 500.
The lower enrolment figure means that the grading would have to be reviewed and she said it would “not be prudent for the department to give any such open-ended commitment which would, in effect, limit the de- partment’s scope for manoeuvre in the future, regarding the optimum solution for secondary school serv- ices in east Clare.”
“We are very proud of the loyalty of our parents, who are loyal to the high standard of education provided here at St Joseph’s rather than to the standard of the building,” said school principal, Jim Cooney.
‘The enrolments will be above 500 in the next three year. The primary school population has gone from 194 to 256 in five years – that’s a 32 per cent increase. We will certainly have the numbers.”