Church land is available for new Duleek school
BISHOP Smith is prepared to sell church lands to the Department of Education so that a secondary school can be built in Duleek, local councillor Sharon Keogan has confirmed.
Speaking at the Laytown/Bettystown area council meeting, she revealed that Thomas Byrne TD has told the department that a site is available .
‘It won’t be free, but it’s on the table. I’ll go to Tullamore if needed,’ she said, urging that action be taken to progress the project.
She said it was incumbent on the councillors to get the school for Duleek as it had 13 feeder schools in the area.
Cllr Stephen McKee had proposed that the council contact the Department of Education and get them to make provision for a secondary school in Duleek due to the high population and that the primary schools now had 700 students, all of whom had to leave the area to go to secondary school.
The department recently said that a new secondary school would be built to cater for south Drogheda/East Meath, but no location mentioned.
‘ There’s a parcel of land on Station Road available and I believe the diocese could progress it with the department,’ he explained.
He said the school would be a boost for families and also local business.
Wayne Harding agreed and said that it could even serve the Slane area.
Cllr Eimear Ferguson felt that a school was needed as Colaiste na hInse was ‘ bursting at the seams’.
Paddy Meade said it needed to be pursued and in the likes of Nobber and Longwood, schools added greatly to the local economy.
Contact should be made with the LMETB, Cllr Tom Kelly added.
‘We had this aspiration 30 years ago and it reminds me of Colaiste na hInse. That started in 1977!’