Derelict sites ‘ upsetting’
“PROTECT small schools” is the message for the Government from the Principal of St Mary’s Second Level School in Ballisodare Suzanne Thorn.
“No more than the Post Offices, they need to be protected, as well as the Garda Barracks. I would hate that they wouldn’t be aware that there are certain challenges in being small,” she said.
Like her Primary School counterpart David Dillon, the derelict properties upset her.
“Visually it’s not a very attractive place and it’s not going to attract investment. One eyesore was replaced by another,” she said. “They’ll have to be knocked, or remediated in some way. You can’t leave those things there like a blight on the landscape. That would be something that could help Ballisodare,” she said.
“The village hasn’t changed in the 30 years I’ve been here in the school. Despite it all, there’s a very active community based around the Church and community centre. That really does a lot of good for the village. You have the Scouts up there,” she said.
The Lost and Found music club meets in St Mary’s every week, a Foróige club run by Eamonn Lawless. The ICA also use the school. Sporting clubs such as Ballisodare United and the GAA club share a new clubhouse in Union Wood. “There’s an awful lot going for Ballisodare and I just feel the urban development really did not enhance it. It’s really families that should be moving in, not apartment dwellers,” she said.