Don’t sell off our community hall, bishop is urged
Locals are angry as Church refuses to meet them about sale
A SMALL rural village is rallying in a bid to stop the Catholic Church from selling two commonly used buildings, one that houses their local pre-school and another that they fundraised to restore.
The community of Longwood, Co. Meath, say they were ‘shut down’ when they tried to open a dialogue with the Church regarding the sale of an old national school and a community hall.
The bishop of Meath and the local parish priest have refused to meet with them and instead, in the last letter they received from the Bishop Michael Smith, they were directed to talk to the estate agent handling the sale.
In letters seen by the Irish Mail on Sunday, the community group wrote to Bishop Smith, telling him how ‘deeply saddened’ they were by the decision to sell the buildings. They said a public meeting had been held with more than 200 people in attendance, and appealed to the bishop to allow the buildings to function in the interim while ‘we enter a dialogue with you to find a mutually agreeable solution’.
Bishop Smith replied four days later saying: ‘The reality has been that many of the groups using the hall had little engagement with the parish, leaving the parish to pick up the bills.’
He added that it ‘should be possible for a number of those organisations using the hall to come together and buy it from the parish’.
In the latest letter from Bishop Smith to the group he said the property was ‘no longer essential to the mission of the parish’ before adding that they should contact the estate agent rather than the church from now on.
Speaking to the Irish Mail on Sunday this week Angela Raleigh, who has lived in Longwood all of her life, said: ‘It feels like we are expected to buy property back from ourselves, which is absolutely ridiculous.’
Ms Raleigh explained how the community raised £35,000 to restore and extend the hall in 1986, but St Finian’s Diocesan Trust did not donate anything at the time. Instead, St Finian’s Trust gave a £5,000 loan, which had to be repaid within two years.
John Maguire was on the hall committee in the 1980s and recalled how the community came together to restore the hall.
‘We worked hard. Every house got an envelope,’ he said. ‘We didn’t ask for an amount and every envelope came back with something in it. I went door to door and we were never turned back. And remember, this was 1986, there were no estates in those times. We had a field evening, including sheep shearing, and duck derby. We raised £35,000, an awful lot of money in those days.’
Gerald Barry, who has children attending the local pre-school said the community group was just looking for ‘a bit of consultation’ over the Church’s decision to sell.
‘We’d love to know what the mission of the parish is,’ he said. ‘We have done a survey of the area of available places if we lose the 66 pre-school places. We have gone out as far as Kilcock and we have just a handful of spaces available.
‘By taking the preschool out of the area, you are taking the children out of the area.’
Niall Duignan, who runs Longwood Scout Group out of the community hall, said: ‘The current parish priest asked the badminton club and Scout club to meet him when he took over and asked to meet and discuss rent going forward, but when they decided they were going to sell it, there was no more talking.’
Fr Michael Kilmartin, local priest in Longwood, told the MoS that the building costs for Longwood parish churches were well in excess of €2m.
In a statement, he said: ‘Firstly, a questionnaire type survey took place in Longwood parish two years ago. Over 300 people replied and it was clear from this survey that the majority of people were happy for the parish to dispose of the hall if money was needed for the doing up of Longwood Church. ‘Secondly, the parish insurance company have stated that several parish properties in Longwood have to be upgraded in the coming years or put out of use. This was
‘We worked hard. Every house got an envelope’ ‘Trust needs finances to support its mission now’
reinforced in the hall itself by a ceiling collapse last year.
‘Thirdly, under the terms of charity legislation, St Finian’s Diocesan Trust has obligations with regards its assets.
‘It must use its assets to support its mission in each parish.
‘The Trust needs finances to support its mission now and in the future. On top of this, St Finian’s Diocesan Trust is bound by law to ensure the properties are safe for use by the public. Several collapses of infrastructure have put an urgency to works on parish buildings in Longwood.’
debbie.mccann@mailonsunday.ie