FAUGHART SCHOOL PLEA
Future of Scoil Bhrigdhe hangs in the balance with plea to Minister
THE future of the beleaguered Faughart National School hangs in the balance as appeals were made in Dail Eireann this week for the current stalemate to be addressed.
Scoil Bhrigdhe has been a school without pupils since September 2017, after parents withdrew their children following long running disagreements over school management.
The Argus understands that the Louth Meath Education Training Board are interested in taking over the school. But there are ongoing issues around ‘patronage’ with the school currently being held in trust for the local parish by the Archdiocese of Armagh.
Appeals were made to Education Minister Richard Bruton in the Dail last week by Louth TD’s Declan Breathnach and Gerry Adams for the Minister to intervene.
The Minister confirmed the Department ‘stands ready’ to provide the funding, teaching resources, capitation grant and all of the standard supports needed at Faughart N.S. He added: ‘It is not the Department’s policy to see schools such as this close, but, ultimately, these decisions do not rest with it. The decisions and the authority to make them rest with the patron and the school community, but the Department is working to try to find a solution.’
Meanwhile Archbishop of Armagh, Eamon Martin said he has ‘no objection in principle’ to the department opting to open the school under new patronage. In a letter to a concerned parent, he said: ‘I feel obliged to reflect carefully on the needs of the parish of Faughart, and of the adjoining parishes before taking a definitive decision in relation to the future use of the premises formerly occupied by Scoil Bhrigdhe.
EDUCATION Minister Richard Bruton confirmed the department ‘stands ready’ to provide the funding, teaching resources, capitation grant and all of the standard supports needed at Faughart N.S
Responding to concerns raised in the Dail last week, he said: ‘We stand ready to provide support packages to improve the quality of delivery in the school and the Department will not be found wanting in the provision of professional support and so on.’
‘Ultimately, however, there has to be a desire locally to make this work. We have to rebuild the parents’ confidence at local level through the work of the school management supported by the professional staff we are making available to it. The parents will have to be content with it for a long period. They have to work with those taking responsibility and be convinced that it can work for them.’
‘We absolutely stand by small schools.’ Minister Bruton outlined the background to the current situation at Faughart N.S, saying: ‘Despite having an enrolment of 55 pupils this time last year which would warrant a staffing complement of a principal and two mainstream classroom teachers, no students are now attending the school as their parents have opted not to send them to the school. My Department is concerned about this.
It is not its policy to see schools such as this close, but, ultimately, these decisions do not rest with it. The decisions and the authority to make them rest with the patron and the school community, but the Department is working to try to find a solution.’
He added: ‘We will continue to engage with the school management and the patron to address the matter. It is our desire to achieve a solution, whereby parents will have the confidence to send their children back to the school. I am informed that the school manager is taking this task seriously and I hope that, with the support of the wider community, we can find a solution that will protect the continuing role of the school which has a proud tradition dating back many years.’
‘It is a difficult issue, but we are working vigorously with local interests to find a solution and open to continuing that work.’