The Government has reversed its stance on the closure of a Mercy Order girls' secondary school in south Galway.
Minister for Education Mary Hanafin has agreed to sanction retention of a second-level school in Kinvara, following a six-month campaign by parents and school students which became an election issue in the Galway East constituency.
However, the sanction is subject to agreement by the Mercy Order that Seamount College will remain "fully operational", accepting first-year students from September next and for the following four years.
The Mercy Order said last night that its leadership team would discuss the proposal in the coming days, and would then talk to the department.
The development was announced yesterday by Minister of State for European Affairs and outgoing Galway East TD Noel Treacy, who said that he had been "central to the entire negotiations on the future of second-level education in Kinvara".
Planning for a new school on a suitable site would begin "immediately", he said, and he called on the Mercy Sisters to "accept without any further delay our decision to proceed" and to decide "immediately" to accept the full first-year intake from September next.
Ms Hanafin's department had initially signalled acceptance of the decision announced by the Mercy Order last October to withdraw from Kinvara on a phased basis by 2012.
Ms Hanafin had even agreed to change the catchment area to facilitate pupils travelling to the nearest alternative in Gort.
However, during a visit to Kinvara in March, Tánaiste Michael McDowell described the closure as "unacceptable".
Mr McDowell pledged to discuss the future of Seamount College, Kinvara, with Ms Hanafin in an attempt to ensure that the community was provided with an alternative.
However, he conceded that he could "not stop" the Sisters of Mercy from disposing of the property on a 5.5-acre harbour site which is estimated to be worth €15 to €20 million.
The fact that there had been considerable State investment in the non-fee paying school was a "moral", rather than a "legal" issue, he said.
Mr McDowell confirmed that he had written an e-mail on the issue on February 19th to a school parent, in which he said that he believed "very strongly that the Department of Education should confer with the local community to see whether there is a way of keeping the school going and buying out the nuns' interest in the land."
Seamount has over 240 pupils on its books, and has been educating girls from Galway and north Clare since the 1920s.
The Rescue campaign, formed by parents to avert the closure, expressed delight at yesterday's decision and asked for the "goodwill of the Sisters" in relation to the department's plan.