Fears grow for future of Holy Cross

A PRIEST at the centre of the Holy Cross dispute spoke of his fears yesterday for the new term as children prepare to return to school at a north Belfast flashpoint.

Board of Governors chairman Father Aidan Troy said the number of new pupils due to start the school had fallen by a third following a loyalist protest last year.

A massive security force presence was needed to escort young girls to school after loyalist protesters in the Glenbryn area surrounding the school demanded parents take another route, claiming their homes were being attacked.

Fr Troy said he believed tension in the area was at its highest point since he arrived in the parish. “I think now that the guns have come out onto the streets, the temperature has been raised quite significantly,” he said.

“I know there was a young man injured in a shooting in Glenbryn earlier in the year but there is a feeling now that there has been a concerted effort to intimidate or to make life very, very difficult for the people in the nationalist Alliance Avenue.”

But Fr Troy said he hoped the school would be recognised as separate to the current violence.

“Education has a context and the context at the moment is disastrous because this is the lowest level I have seen in my 13 months here by far,” he said.

“But I hope that at least the nearby Protestant Wheatfield school can return in peace and with best wishes and that Holy Cross Girls School and all the other schools in the area can return with minimum attention,” he added.

He also said it was imperative for the school’s long-term survival that there was no trouble this year.

“With the drop in enrolment, we need a calm year to shows parents who are nervous that we have conquered this problem and the people of Glenbryn will stand aside from this,” he said.

Fr Troy said the Holy Cross pupils had been failed by politicians at Executive and Westminster level.

“The local politicians on the ground have tried to calm the situation but we have had very little help from Tony Blair or the MP for the area, Nigel Dodds,” he said.

“And now, after a number of studies in the area, there is only silence and the Executive has yet to take action.

“Politically we have no solution, so it would be nice if we, as church leaders, could work together.

“I am optimistic that we have the possibility of having a good year but there are worrying clouds there.

“With the recent constant violence, it is clear that if this year does not go well, we are not back to square one, we are a lot worse, we will have slipped into the gutter.”

Fr Troy said the future of Holy Cross hinges on a decision made by the Executive on demands from Glenbryn residents to build a wall along part of Ardoyne Road, realigning the route walked by children and parents.

“It is my duty to at least give the school the chance of survival. If the wall is built, the school closes. It’s as simple as that,” he said.