A protest organised in "pure frustration" at the Government's continued inaction over the impending closure of a secondary school in Co Longford was held yesterday at the Department of Education's offices in Dublin.
St Joseph's Secondary School, Newtownforbes, which is run by the Sisters of Mercy, is due to close in 2003.
But the nuns have told the local community they no longer wish to remain as trustees of the former girls' secondary school, which became co-educational in 1994.
Parents are still unsure about enrolment at St Joseph's for the coming year, said Mr Mel Clarke, chairman of a steering committee formed to find alternative management structures for the school.
No new enrolments were made last year. There are currently some 125 students at the school, he said.
The committee has met the Minister twice, the latest meeting being last January, he said, but no decision on the school had yet been made.
Some 25 people protested outside the Department's offices in Marlborough Street, Dublin, yesterday morning, said Mr Clarke, in frustration at the way the committee had been treated by the Department.
A spokesman for the Department said the issue was currently under review.
"We are looking at the most effective way of providing long-term, post-primary education in the Longford-Newtownforbes catchment area," he said.
In recent years falling numbers in the order have caused the nuns to sell the convent, which was subsequently developed as an apartment scheme.
Mr Clarke said the committee wanted, first, a decision to be made on the school by the Minister.
Second, it wanted a favourable decision, he said.