Calls for modular accommodation at Westport school

A renewed call has been made for modular accommodation to be installed on the grounds of Sacred Heart Secondary School (SHS) in Westport.

Amid an ongoing saga over new accommodation for one of the oldest schools in the country, Eoin Holmes, Chairman of the Holy Trinity NS Board of Management’s Building Committee, has said new modular accommodation at SHS would be ‘the fastest solution’ and ‘the best solution’ to their accommodation needs.

The school has been offered temporary accommodation at the former Scoil Phádraig near the Convent of Mercy, a site which had been earmarked for a new school for the Holy Trinity NS.

The offer was made in response to what was described in official correspondence as ‘urgent temporary accommodation needs’ for SHS.

The school is currently using modular accommodation located on its Castlebar Road campus.

Explaining the decision on behalf of Minister for Education, Norma Foley, Minister of State, Colm Burke, said that ‘the condition of the remaining accommodation [at SHS] is such that there is a requirement to vacate the majority of this to support a safe working environment for the staff and students in that school’.

Speaking to The Mayo News yesterday (Monday), Mr Holmes insisted that there was room on the school’s grounds for extra modular accommodation beside the existing units.

He cited a scaled drawing of the SHS campus by ETH Consulting showing room for potential extra accommodation.

“Our contention is the fastest solution is the best solution, and the fastest solution would be to build more portabins on the site where there is factual evidence of the suitability of the ground and room for it to happen. It then means they don’t need to split the campus,” said Mr Holmes.

“They could be moving into it now,” he said, referring to the decision taken in March to offer SHS temporary accommodation at Scoil Phádraig.

“Instead, they have decided to do something contrary to all logic and all diversity and inclusion and equality rules and regulations, contrary to our school’s right to practice [religion] uninterrupted and underhand, to go down this other route which they do not know how long it is going to take.

The existing school building at Holy Trinity NS dates back to the 1830s and has been deemed not fit for purpose.

There are currently approximately 60 children enrolled in the school, which is the only Church of Ireland school in Westport.