Holy Trinity NS told ‘no records’ kept on Sacred Heart accommodation discussions

HOLY Trinity NS in Westport have been told that ‘no records’ exist of discussions to give a building earmarked for their use to a local secondary school.

The Church of Ireland school, who are using a building long deemed ‘not fit for purpose’, were told there were no records kept of ‘multiple internal discussions’ regarding the Sacred Heart Secondary School’s accommodation needs.

Holy Trinity NS had sought correspondence relating to the ‘level of works required, and costs involved’ in using the derelict building as accommodation for the Sacred Heart Secondary School.

Scoil Phádraig had been earmarked as a new building for Holy Trinity NS after it was granted to the school by the Sisters of Mercy, before being given over to the Department of Education.

Works began on the site before it was subsequently proposed to convert Scoil Phádraig into temporary accommodation for Sacred Heart Secondary School ‘to address the urgent need’ for accommodation at the all-girls school.

In response to a Freedom of Information request from Holy Trinity NS, Leon Mc Gilton A/Higher Executive Officer with the Department Education said: “The accommodation needs for Sacred Heart School in Westport formed the basis of multiple internal discussions, via telephone calls, in-person, and via group Teams calls. The nature of these discussions, being informal and exploratory, was such that there are no records of same.”

Mr McGilton continued: “I appreciate that this may not be satisfactory from your perspective, but given the huge volume of work constantly ongoing in the Planning and Building Unit, including the significant number of projects, queries, reporting requirements, and statutory obligations such as FOIs, we do not have the capacity to formally minute all internal discussions.”

Ten pages of documentation were disclosed to Holy Trinity NS under their Freedom of Information request. This includes an email sent from the Department of Education to the Principal of the Sacred Heart School on March 7, 2024, confirming the proposal to refurbish Scoil Phádraig for their use.

The school were told that Scoil Phádraig will not be available for their occupation in the 2024/25 school year but that they ‘will continue to work towards its occupation as soon as possible thereafter’.

A previous email signed off by Karen Hawkshaw, Senior Architect with the Department of Education, described the Sacred Heart School as ‘the most challenging school site I have come across in 17 years’.

In the same email, Ms Hawkshaw said that a new school building for Sacred Heart School was ‘the best long-term solution’.

‘HIGHLY QUESTIONABLE’

Eoin Holmes, Chairman of the Holy Trinity NS Board of Management’s Building Committee, criticised the Department of Education for not keeping records of the decision to allocate Scoil Phádraig to Sacred Heart Secondary School as temporary accommodation.

The school has the right to appeal the Freedom of Information decision to the Freedom of Information Unit at the Department of Education.

“They are not making the logical, cost-effective, smart, sensitive, intelligent decisions. Because they are not keeping records of their meetings, there is no evidence to suggest that they are making the best decisions,” Mr Holmes told The Mayo News yesterday (Monday). “Therefore we believe these decisions are highly questionable.”

Mr Holmes said that modular accommodation would be the best short-term solution for Sacred Heart Secondary School, followed by a new school building on a green field site in the long-term.

He reiterated that Holy Trinity NS enjoyed ‘a great relationship’ with Sacred Heart Secondary School.

“This is an unfortunate situation not of their making or ours,” he added.

Local TD, Michael Ring, has described the proposal to use Scoil Phádraig as temporary accommodation for Sacred Heart School as ‘a waste of taxpayers’ money’.

Cllr Brendan Mulroy has publicly called on Sacred Heart School to reject the offer of accommodation from the Department of Education.

The Mayo News understands that the decision to accept the accommodation offer at Scoil Phádraig will rest with the school’s patrons.