McDowell says school closure is unacceptable

Tánaiste Michael McDowell has described the closure of a secondary school as unacceptable, contrary to the stance taken by Cabinet colleague and Minister for Education Mary Hanafin.

Mr McDowell has pledged to discuss the future of south Galway school Seamount College in Kinvara with Ms Hanafin in a attempt to ensure that the community is provided with an alternative when the Sisters of Mercy close it in five years time.

However, he told The Irish Times 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.

A parents' delegation, which intends to present a petition of 10,800 signatures in support of the school to the Government in Dublin on Wednesday, made the case for retaining the school, which has a student population of 240. The parents propose that its status would be changed to co-educational.

They argue that projected population trends in Seamount's catchment, spanning south Galway and north Clare, shows a 43 per cent increase between 2008 and 2012.

The alternative offered by Ms Hanafin at Gort Community College would be untenable, they say, in that Gort's attendance would rise from the current 738 pupils to at least 1,155 pupils by 2011.

The Mercy order has said that the decision to close is "based on the fact that sufficient funding to provide appropriate facilities and a suitable wide-ranging curriculum will not be available into the future".