Declan Breathnach (Louth, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am disappointed that the Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy Richard Bruton, is not taking this matter because I understand from the rules of the House that if a Minister is not available to Deputies on a particular day, a matter such as this can be deferred. I was not informed that the Minister would be unavailable.

The problems associated with Scoil Náisiúnta Bhrighde in Faughart, County Louth have been ongoing for quite some time. My office has been dealing with representations from many of the families with children who have been impacted on by the saga that has been ongoing in the school since May 2017. Neither the Minister, the Archbishop of Armagh, Eamon Martin, nor the patron of the school up until the time it closed its doors in mid-September 2017 could find a solution to what had been an ongoing problem within the school related to leadership and management and the consequent fallout of a drop in enrolments due to falling standards at the school. Dozens of families in the community were left with no option but to withdraw their children from the school, because of the failure or inability of the Department to deal with the issues at the time. The school has remained closed ever since. It operated with three teachers, a secretary and a caretaker. Before it closed there were 23 boys and 32 girls attending, down from a high of over 100 pupils in its heyday.

The church closed the school to find a solution to the problems, but at the time it was said clearly both to me and others that it would allow it to be divested to another patron once the problems were solved in the poor management of the school. Archbishop Martin has been contacted by me without response, but he did respond to others, including representatives of the parents' group. In a recent reply he stated he had no objection in principle to the possibility of the Department, following due process, making a decision on the opening of a new school under different patronage on the former Scoil Bhrighde site. However, in his letter he stated he had had asked the Department for documentation on the process but that he had not received the documentation he had requested. He also said that he was not aware that there had been a demand for a change of patronage or diversity in patronage provision while the school was open. He also believed it was reasonable for any decision on a change of patronage to be made following a plebiscite or other form of wider consultation within the local community.

The archbishop cannot but be aware of the requests for a change of patronage since the school closed. He has also stated that, as a trustee of the trust which owns the property and as Archbishop of Armagh, he has a responsibility to the parish of Faughart to ensure the religious education of the children of the parish, including their sacramental preparation, is safeguarded. I have received confirmation from the Louth Meath Education and Training Board that preparation for the sacraments would be carried out in conjunction with the local parish. Archbishop Martin has asked for clarification from the Department on whether such a change of patronage would essentially involve the opening of a new school rather than a transfer of patronage to an existing school. He has said he expects the same criteria of assessment to apply as normally apply in the case of a proposed new school. I completely understand the concerns of the archbishop in that regard and also in regard to religious education, but surely a mechanism can be found to satisfy his concerns to enable the school to reopen to the satisfaction of the parents and community as speedily as possible.

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