The Mayo News

There was joy in Davitt College in Castlebar on Monday following the announcement that Minister for Education, Batt O’Keeffe, had sanctioned funding for the school’s long-awaited sports hall. Minister sanctions Davitt College sports hall


Neill O’Neill

THERE was joy in Davitt College in Castlebar yesterday (Monday), following the announcement that Education Minister, Batt O’Keeffe, had sanctioned funding for the school’s long-awaited sports hall.
The Minister has approved the funding for the hall, the cost of which was previously estimated at €2.2 million. New tenders for the project will now be sought and it will be named after former principal of Davitt College, the late Joe Langan, who was also a former CEO of the Mayo VEC and a well-known former inter-county footballer for Mayo. He died in 2006.
Former Minister for Education, Mary Hanafin, stated earlier this year that her Department would sanction the funding for the project, but when Taoiseach Brian Cowen reshuffled his cabinet in May, and amid talk of cut-backs in all areas of Government spending, fears had arisen about the granting of the funding.
Mayo VEC had expressed anger in recent months at the fact that Minister Hanafin’s promise had not been fulfilled, and their CEO, Dr Katie Sweeney, was present at yesterday’s meeting between Minister O’Keeffe, Deputy Beverley Flynn, the principal of Davitt College, Ioseph McGowan, vice-principal Tommy O’Malley and Chairman of the Board of Management, Cllr Eugene McCormack.
Following the discussions, Dr Sweeney said that everyone at Davitt College and the Mayo VEC were delighted with the news.
“This is 30 years in the making and is only what the students of Davitt College deserve,” she said. “There are over 550 students in the school at the moment and this will rise to over 800 by 2011, so this facility is badly needed.”
Dr Sweeney added that Davitt College is a great school with a fantastic record in academic and sporting success, and that the new sports hall will help the excellent team of teachers at the school, and contribute towards a more complete education for all the students there.
For several years now, students at Davitt College have been attending PE classes in rented accommodation in the town.
In a statement, Deputy Beverley Flynn said she was delighted that the 30-year wait for the Davitt College sports hall was finally over.
“I am delighted for the students, the parents and the staff of the school, as well as the wider community which will benefit from this facility,” she said. “We have had our disappointments over the years at the deferral of a project which was first mooted and agreed on over 30 years ago.”

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