Declan Breathnach (Louth, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I understand the transfer of patronage can be fast-tracked in this case. The Louth and Meath Education and Training Board is capable and perhaps one of the best in the country at education and school management. It has said the school could be opened for September 2018. In a previous life I was the principal teacher in a rural school. The Minister of State knows that the rural school is the hub of most communities and it is sad and disappointing, notwithstanding the valiant effort of the parents and families and the community of Faughart, that the school remains closed. My concern is that there is obfuscation and fudge. The patron has written to the Department with questions he wants answered. The Minister of State mentioned an early movers provision but if that is not made within a certain period, people will find other places, as they would in any rural community, and they have done so in Faughart. The patron has written letters setting out what the effects would be on the other schools. It would only reverse the difficulty the school had before it closed.

The Minister has sent out a first round of surveys under the consultation plan for the divestment of schools and he is also seeking to outlaw the baptism barrier for entry to Catholic schools. However, as matters stand, the Catholic bishops have the final say on which schools they transfer and what type of school will emerge. It is my clear understanding, having taken advice, that the Education Act 1998 makes provision for the existing patron to transfer patronage to another patron. I have been advised that Archbishop Martin has withdrawn as patron of Faughart. That is an important point.

It is the parents' wish to reopen the school in September under the patronage of the Louth and Meath Education and Training Board. The LMETB has confirmed to me that it is willing to open the school this September under its patronage and 30 families have already filled in an expression of interest form to send their children, both returning and new, to Faughart school under that patronage. I implore the Minister to meet Archbishop Martin to obtain from him the letter of request needed to enable the transfer of patronage to take place. Any further delay will weaken the spirit of community in the area. As a former teacher, the Minister of State knows the importance of rural schools as hubs in the community. Allowing this to go beyond September would run the risk of the school never reopening and we would have another Drimoleague.

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