Closure of small schools is ‘death by a thousand cuts’ for communities

RURAL Ireland has been stripped of its post offices and garda stations and now the Government is squeezing out small national schools in a bid to make savings, a meeting of the Save our Small Schools Campaign in Dunmanway, Co Cork, heard yesterday.

Up to 700 people attended the meeting at the Parkway Hotel last night. Campaigners expressed concern that budget cuts in education could lead to the closure of up to 10 schools in West Cork within three years, with their plight being replicated nationally.

Clara McGowan — the principal of St James NS in Durrus, Co Cork, and spokeswoman for the campaign — said rural Ireland’s fabric would erode if small schools were forced to close.