Protestors take to the streets over downgrading of Castlebar campus

MAKING HIS POINT Protestor Cathal McCarthy on the streets of Castlebar last Saturday. Pic: Michael Brophy

Áine Ryan

UP to 600 people attended a protest in Castlebar on Saturday last opposing the downgrading of the GMIT Mayo Campus. Confirmation that five courses are to be cut while 15 staff members have been asked to locate to the Galway campus has further compounded the seriousness of the situation.  
Speaking at the protest, Cathaoirleach of Mayo County Council Al McDonnell confirmed that the local authority would stand behind the protestors. He was among the many signatories of a pledge to secure the future of the Castlebar campus.
Spokesman for the Mayo GMIT Action group Harry Barrett told The Mayo News yesterday (Monday) that the group ‘now has the political support needed’.
“This isn’t a storm in a teacup; there is a hurricane coming down the tracks.
“We will not accept a downgrade and will fight for a cost-effective third-level education for the people of Mayo,” he said.
Barrett also said that he ‘would like to thank Deputy Lisa Chambers (Fianna FΡil) and Senator Rose Conway-Walsh (Sinn Féin) for all their support’.
Speaking at the protest, Conway Walsh said: “I am somebody who went back to adult education. I’m somebody who got a second chance. I know what that is like. I want every person to have that regardless of their income.”

‘Enormous concern’
Meanwhile, Fine Gael Senator Michelle Mulherin has written to the chairwoman of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills, Fiona O’Loughlin, to highlight her concerns regarding the Mayo campus of GMIT.
“This is an issue of enormous concern for the people of Mayo.  The GMIT Mayo Campus at Castlebar has offered many people living in the region the opportunity to undertake third-level studies who otherwise would have been unable to do so.  
“A strong and vibrant Mayo campus has an essential role in the plans for economic growth, investment and jobs for the west region,” Ms Mulherin said.
She cited the fact that Taoiseach Enda Kenny and Minister for Education and Skills Richard Bruton had  recently set up a working group to establish a plan of action to ensure the sustainability of the campus and it was due to report in September.
Mulherin said that in the meantime, she ‘would like to see GMIT management set out, in no uncertain terms, their commitment to the Castlebar campus’.