Top school has to move days before term

One of Cork’s most prestigious schools has been forced to relocate from the city centre to an industrial estate just days before the new term.

The 400 girls at the €3,300-a-year Scoil Mhuire secondary school were only told of the shock move from the city centre to Blackpool yesterday by letter.

This followed an emergency meeting of the Parents’ Council on Wednesday night, where representatives were told a property the school had been renting since March could no longer be used by pupils. The move faces opposition. More than 50 angry parents met in Maryborough House Hotel last night. Afterwards, a spokesman for the parents’ council said that as far as they were concerned, the move was not a fait accompli.