Mulroy calls on Sacred Heart School to refuse accommodation offer from Department of Education 

A Westport-based councillor has called on the Sacred Heart Secondary School to refuse accommodation at a site which had been earmarked for one of the oldest schools in Mayo.

Cllr Brendan Mulroy called on the all-girls school to refuse an offer from the Department of Education to use temporary accommodation at Scoil Phádraig on Altamount Street.

The long derelict site was initially proposed as the new school building for Holy Trinity NS – who are currently based in a building deemed not-fit-for-purpose.

The building has since been offered to Sacred Heart Secondary School as temporary accommodation, prompting backlash from local representatives.

The proposal would involve “immediate upgrade works to the Scoil Phádraig building and for Sacred Heart School to take occupation of this accommodation, along with the retained use of modular units and some of the better condition accommodation on its current site”, according to a letter sent to Holy Trinity NS from a Department of Education official.

_{Students from Holy Trinity NS with their school principal, Orla Brickenden}

At yesterday’s (Monday) meeting of Westport-Belmullet Municipal District, Cllr Brendan Mulroy called on the school to ‘step up the mark’ and reject the offer from the department and ask for new accommodation on a green field site.

Sacred Heart are currently using portacabins on their school pitch as temporary accommodation for students.

“If the Sacred Heart School board of management and principal refuse the offer of a site from the department to move up, Holy Trinity will be given a site,” said Cllr Mulroy.

“But for some reason, the board of management and the principal of the Sacred Heart School are not playing ball with Holy Trinity.”

Cllr John O’Malley, who said the long-running debacle over Holy Trinity’s new school building had become ‘nasty’.

“It’s going to cause a lot of problems. Because I can assure you, I’ve been talking to people as well, and I can assure you if they bring classes up there, there will be a lot of teachers will be off sick, will be taking sick leave, they won’t be coming in and they won’t teach there,” said Cllr O’Malley.

'Ludicrous'

Cllr Peter Flynn said no funding should be allocated to refurbish Scoil Phádraig until it was decided whether Westport needed a new school on a green field site.

The Fine Gael councillor said it was ‘ludicrous’ that 90 percent of students attending Sancta Maria College in Louisburgh were from outside the local catchment area.

Sancta Maria College is currently serviced by several school bus routes which travel to and from Westport each day.

Cllr Christy Hyland described the situation as ‘a mess’ and said having students from the Sacred Heart School using two campuses would result in ‘chaos’.

“Young people walking up and down from the Castlebar Street complex to the Altamount Street complex; it’s not good, inclement weather, et cetera. I don’t think it’s a good idea at all,” the Independent councillor commented.

“Our population, it’s estimated, is going to grow. We see the chaos at Scoil Phádraig [on the Newport Road] regarding traffic and safety. In most places schools are going on the verges of the towns. It is, and should be, a green field site for the Sacred Heart School.”

Cllr O’Malley claimed that Holy Trinity NS had been ‘tricked’ into signing the old Scoil Phádraig building over to the Department of Education to progress a new school building.

Responding to these claims, Catherine McConnell, Director of Service for the Westport-Belmullet Municipal District, said: “While there was the promise of the school, it was never possible for them to actually hand it over to anyone other than a government department.”

Ms McConnell said Mayo County Council had not received ‘any contact’ from Sacred Heart or Holy Trinity NS regarding the latest accommodation proposal.