The news that Munster’s first Educate Together second-level school is to open in Co Cork has been welcomed locally.

PARENTS take fag-breaks during First Communion Mass and chatter so loudly the priest falls silent; children are ignorant of how to bless themselves, genuflect or behave in church.

THE traditional family is a mother and a father, and children. But current figures show that lesbian, gay, transgender or bisexual people make up 7% of the Irish population, and a survey shows that one in five lesbian couples, and one in 14 gay couples, are parents.

A wider information campaign is planned to promote a survey of parents on primary school choices after a mixed response to a trial survey before Christmas.

AT Cork Educate Together National School about three-quarters of the school’s 215 pupils are from Irish families, mostly in the local inner-city community or parts of the northside.

THE success of a Educate Together multi-denominational primary school has led to huge demand for a second-level school under the same umbrella.

TWO Dublin schools will share the same building from next week but one will have all its rent paid while the other must fork out thousands of euro.

IN an unusual reversal of roles, the Department of Education has asked Educate Together to open a multi- denominational school — at short notice — in a fast-growing part of north Co Dublin.

A NEW sustainable town plan for part of Waterford city will act as a showcase for future community developments in Ireland, a labour party councillor said yesterday.

TWO schools have had to depend on the generosity of a property developer to provide a suitable site for proper classrooms.

A PARENTS’ group has blamed the Department of Education for the shortage of primary school places that has resulted in one boy having to stay at home.

PARENTS who are deserting a west Dublin suburb because of a chronic lack of school places in the area, have appealed to Education Minister Noel Dempsey to build a new facility.