THE Enniskillen convent grammar school at the centre of a dispute on the sale of school uniforms by businesses owned by a leading Fermanagh Orangeman said yesterday additional suppliers will be appointed.
Parents of girls at Mount Lourdes Convent Grammar School had complained that the sole supplier of uniforms was Lisnaskea businessman Mr Roy Kells, the Co Fermanagh deputy grand master of the Orange Order, who owns the S.D. Kells clothes shops in Lisnaskea, Enniskillen and Irvinestown.
His shops are being boycotted by nationalists because of his involvement in Orange Order protests over the Drumcree crisis. Mount Lourdes Grammar School opened yesterday to new pupils but will not fully reopen until today when all pupils return.
All pupils will be wearing school uniform, although it may deviate from that sold by S.D. Kells. Those pupils who fail to turn up in the usual uniform will be accepted by the school until the problem is resolved.
In a statement, the principal, Mr Gerry Hegarty, said that he fully understood the views of those parents who objected to the school about the sale of the S.D. Kells uniforms, and "sympathised with their difficulty", but he had been unable to make alternative arrangements until now.
Last week, the school said it had no plans to change the supplier of the school uniform, but it appears that position has now changed. For the forthcoming year Mr Hegarty said S.D. Kells will no longer be the sole supplier of the uniforms.
He said: "As a new school year has now begun, arrangements for the supply of the uniform will be reviewed. All possibilities will be examined and additional suppliers will be in place as soon as practicable. This school values the support it receives from the parents of its students and will devise arrangements which will make the time consuming task of obtaining uniforms as convenient as possible for them."
The move has been welcomed by an independent nationalist councillor, Mr Tony McPhillips, who dealt with complaints from parents regarding the sale of the uniforms from Mr Kells's businesses.