A history of Scoil Dar Earca as it passes the 40-year milestone

THE building of the Scoil Dar Earca National School in Ballyhearney, Valentia, commenced in 1976 and was completed in 1978. It replaced the existing three schools, namely Corobeg to the west of the island; Ballyhearney in the centre; and Knightstown to the east.

The year 2018 was the 40th anniversary of the school’s existence, and on Friday, December 21, Fr Larry Kelly of Cahersiveen came together with staff, pupils and the general public to celebrate Mass, with music and song by schoolchildren in the church of Saints Dar Earca and Teresa of Chapeltown.

All retreated afterwards to the school for refreshments, and a photographic exhibition of times past and present in the school and general reminisce.

The site in Ballyhearney was purchased by the Office of Pubic Works from the Chapeltown publican John William O’Sullivan (RIP), with the OPW Clerk of Works being Liam Cosgrave (RIP).

Pat O’Driscoll of O’Driscoll’s Plant Hire and Haulage started clearance of the site in 1976. He also supplied the ground trunking.

Much of the foundation had to be dug by hand as part of the regulations.

The main contractor was Jim Lynch (RIP), The Mill.

Construction methods were significantly different to today’s in that there was no readymixed, supplied concrete.

Concrete and mortar were mixed by shovel into a Teagle mixer attached to a Fordson Major tractor.

Lime mortar was used in the construction. There was no on-site tele-porter and no steel scaffolding (all timber). Electrical power tools were very scarce.

The sand and gravel was supplied by MF Quirke and sons of Cahirsiveen; the cement by McElligotts of Castleisland; the roof tiles by Roadstone; the timber by Brooks-Haughtons of Cork; and the blocks by John A Woods.

The Trada timber roof trusses were cut, bolted and assembled on site by Diarmuid Lynch, Dan McCarthy, Kevin Curran, John Lynch and Paudie Lynch.

The roof tiles were loaded on the timber scaffolding with the aid of the front bucket of the tractor on-site.

From there, they were distributed by hand across the roof for fixing. All the glass, single-glazed, was hand-cut by Jim Lynch.

The main groundsmen were Bobby Burton and Denis Mort Murphy.

Paddy Curran (RIP), John Lynch and Peter Cahill (RIP) did the plastering. John Lyne of Lower Ballyhearney was the electrical contractor, Paddy McGillycuddy (RIP) was the Painting Contractor, Fitzpatrick’s of Kanturk laid the tarmac, Savage and Wrenn of Tralee laid the floor covering; and Terence O’Connor of Castleisland was the plumbing and heating contractor.

Jimmy Peadar O’Donoghue (Portmagee); Seamus, Paudie and Liam Lynch; and Tommy Kennedy worked on site at various times throughout the project.

The opening of the school in 1978 saw an attendance of 102 pupils.

Remarkably, there were 51 boys and 51 girls. As a sign of the times, 48 pupils attended in September 2018: 27 boys and 21 girls.

Past teachers included Joan Gallagher (1978 to 1999); Nancy O’Sullivan (RIP, 1978-1982); Anita Guiney (1978-2004); Maureen Orpen (RIP, 1978-2006); Emer Ring (1993-1995); John Clifford (1999-2010); Ann O’Halloran (2001-2002) and Mary O’Shea (2004-2006).

Principals included Joan Gallagher (1978-1999); Maureen Orpen (1999-2006); and John Daly (2006-now).

The current teaching staff is made up of: John Daly (since 1994); Maeve Quirke (since 1995); Sharon Musgrave (since 2006) and Deirdre Moran (since 2011).

Photo of the Scoil Dar Earca National School,Valentia.