Mayo councillors want clarity on 'mysterious' work on old Ballina school site

'Mysterious' work and activity on the site of the old St Mary's Secondary School in north Mayo is causing concern amongst local residents, warned local councillors.

The future plans for the old St Mary's Secondary School in Ballina are uncertain after a planning application to turn it into an IPAS centre was rejected earlier this year.

However, local councillors raised concerns at the monthly meeting of the Ballina Municipal District and asked for clarity on activity on the site after mobile homes and security huts were moved in and claims beds were moved into the building.

“There is work going on there all the time,” local councillor Annie May Reape told the meeting after asking council officials if the site on Mc Dermott Street is subject to a live planning application.

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The local councillors attended a meeting with local residents last week and expressed frustration that they had no information to tell them what was happening on the site. Cllr Reape said that mobile homes had moved onto the site which was making it unsightly and questioned why the enforcement office had not got involved.

Fine Gael councillor John O'Hara echoed her concerns saying that there is security on site and lights were beaming into people's windows at night and it was disconcerting to locals.

“It is important for the people who live there to know what is happening,” he said.

“There is renovation going on and there are people in mobiles. It is very wrong that we don't know what is happening. As citizens the local people are entitled to know what is going in there beside them. People need to know what is happening and it is only fair that people are told.”

There has been speculation that the site will be turned into a nursing home but in response, Declan Turnbull, Head of the Ballina Municipal District confirmed that there was no live planning application for the old St Mary's building for a nursing home or any other development.

“The site is owned by a company in Dublin and is a private building. There is no live planning application in there at the moment. If something is done and they apply for retention that will be dealt with in the normal way.

“If there is activity going on if we think it is outside the planning regulations it can be looked at by planning enforcement but I can't say what is going on down there. It is private property and people are entitled to work on their property as they wish. If complaints have been made they can be investigated but they haven't been made and we are not aware of anything,” he said.

The former St Mary’s Secondary School site was used by the school until it moved into a new state-of-the-art facility nearby in September 2022. The school site was subsequently sold to a Dublin-based company.

Independent councillor Marie Thérése Duffy described what was taking place at the old school site as mysterious and that the residents are so concerned by the activity on site. She said machinery is heard coming from the building and trucks are moving in and out.

“It is having a huge impact on residents and not knowing is troubling people. It was rejected [for an IPAS Centre] but what is next. They are wondering if something else will happen and it is done before they know it. They are still concerned about what is going to happen,” she said.