A PRIMARY school with 457 pupils has brought a High Court challenge to a decision by a Department of Education and Science-appointed body compelling it to enrol two pupils when it claims to have no space for them.
St Molaga's NS, Bremore, Balbriggan, Dublin, claims the decision by the appeals committee - which hears appeals against enrolment refusals - is irrational, wrong in law and "inexplicable".
The school's board of management was yesterday given leave by Mr Justice Michael Peart to challenge the committee's decision, which arose out of an attempt by the parents of the two sibling children to enrol the children earlier this year.
The committee was set up under Section 29 of the 1998 Education Act, which gives parents the right to appeal a refusal by a school to enrol children.
The case is being taken against the department and the members of the appeals committee, while the parents of the two children are notice parties in the case.
The appeals committee decided on April 28th last that the school had the capacity to accommodate the children, the High Court was told. However, Caitríona O'Reilly, chairperson of St Molaga's board of management, said in an affidavit that the 457-pupil and 16- teacher school had already refused enrolment to 40 pupils in September last.
She said the school was not just full but was in fact 36 pupils in excess of the requirement for 16 teachers. It was even nine pupils in excess of what was needed to appoint a 17th teacher.
The school, which is under the patronage of the Catholic Archbishop of Dublin, caters for third to sixth class pupils and has doubled in size in the last 10 years, Ms O'Reilly said. It already had 12 prefabricated classrooms in an attempt to cater for the increasing enrolment and had taken a decision not to acquire any more pre-fabs. It was willing to expand to a 24-classroom school if permanent accommodation was provided but no progress had been made on this.
The board of management was "at a loss to understand" the basis of the appeals committee finding.
Feichin McDonagh SC, for the school, said there was a danger, unless the matter was clarified by the court, that the decision would "create chaos in future years". The school wants a declaration that the decision is of no legal effect and irrational in holding that it has capacity to enrol the children.