Church of Ireland school in Mayo is being 'blaggarded'
Works are ongoing at the former Scoil Pádraig site in Westport, which was originally earmarked for Holy Trinity NS.
Councillors believe religious discrimination is at play in the treatment of a Church of Ireland national school in Westport.
Holy Trinity NS has been blocked from progressing its plans for a new school. Parents, teachers and pupils from the school previously held a protest on a site they say was promised to them for a new building, but it is instead being allocated to another school in the town.
The former Scoil Pádraig site is being allocated to the Sacred Heart Secondary School, which the department says is in urgent need of temporary accommodation.
Planning concerns have recently been raised around development at the Altamont Street site.
Complaints have been made about alleged unauthorised development at the site by the Department of Education. However, Mayo County Council has said the complaint has no basis and has closed an enforcement file on the matter.
Cllr Peter Flynn hit out at the council's Director of Services with responsibility for planning Catherine McConnell for not attending last Friday's meeting of Westport-Belmullet Municipal District, either in person or remotely.
“Honestly, it is simply not acceptable," he remarked.
Municipal district manager Seamus O'Mongáin explained that Ms McConnell was not available that day but had furnished councillors with a report on the issue.
“I am certainly not in any way satisfied with the report," replied Cllr Flynn. "Here you have a situation where you have a complaint made to planning enforcement in January. You could issue a report in four weeks saying there was no issue there. In normal circumstances, if you get a response in four years you are doing well.
“You actually have a building on Altamont Street, which is an architectural area of conservation and nobody seems to care. You also have a situation where new vehicular access has been created out onto a regional road, and nobody seems to care. You have a situation where windows and doors were pulled out of a building which is an architectural area of conservation and nobody seems to care within Mayo Co Council,” he added.
Cllr Flynn asked if the Department of Education is exempt from planning regulations and requested that the council write to the Department.
“Is it a religious situation that we have here? Are you treated differently if you are not a Catholic? Because that’s what it seems like in this particular scenario,” he said.
Cllr John O’Malley said Holy Trinity NS is being “blaggarded”.
